Google, the world's No 1 Web search provider, faces a regulatory deadline that is expected to force the notoriously idiosyncratic company to open its books as soon as next week and could trigger its long-anticipated debut as a public company.
A initial public offering would enrich Google's founders and early venture investors and give it a valuable currency for acquisitions as it takes on determined rivals Yahoo Inc and Microsoft Corp.
Such a deal, which is widely expected to value the six-year-old firm at about $20 billion, would also generate as much as $100 million in banking fees for Wall Street advisors at a time when the three-year-old drought in IPOs is easing.
But for a company that helps millions of Internet users get answers to any query, Mountain View, California-based Google has been tight-lipped on its plans.
Google, which declined comment through a spokeswoman on Friday, could still opt to remain privately held, and nothing definitive has been disclosed about the timing, size or structure of any IPO.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that the company would "push forward with an initial public offering" but provided no further detail.
Interest in any Google IPO would be enormous.
"Of course, we are going to look at it. If they do file next week, we'll get a chance to look at their financials," said Ryan Jacob, portfolio manager of the $80 million Jacob Internet Fund.
The brainchild of two Stanford University graduate students - Sergey Brin and Larry Page, who together hold 30 percent or more of the company - Google revolutionized Web search in 1998 by offering a simple and powerful way to find information based on the number of links to a page.
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