'SO MUCH for the hype' - that is how The Economist described Google's debut as a publicly listed company in August 2004.

After months of anticipation, the world's most popular Internet search engine saw its shares debut at US$85 in its initial public offering instead of the stratospheric US$108 to US$135 many had expected.

Now just over three years later, Google has surpassed US$600 a share to join only five other American stocks in an exclusive club. On Monday, it closed at US$615.

Google shares have increased more than sevenfold from their IPO price. The nine-year-old company is now worth US$190 billion (S$280.2 billion) on the stock market, still less than Microsoft, but more than established giants such as retailer Wal-Mart, Coca-Cola, Hewlett-Packard and IBM.

Co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page, who each own about 9 per cent of Google, have seen the value of their holdings climb to more than US$17 billion each.

What makes Google so hot?

<< Google's share of the United States Internet search market rose to 56.5 per cent in August from 55.2 per cent the previous month. Yahoo had 23.3 per cent and Microsoft, an 11.3 per cent share.

<< The US Web advertising market will climb 29 per cent this year to US$21.7 billion, and then more than double by 2011, according to eMarketer.

Source: Wires.