"The much-awaited Google 2-for-1 stock split is finally happening on Wednesday when shareholders of record as of March 27 will get two shares for every one they owned."
Out of curiosity what happens if you bought shares on March 28th? Does your stock price just go to $600 or can you petition Google to have the new Class C shares issued to you to make up the loss in price?
NASDAQ made the situation a little more complicated by reporting GOOG as the price of the Class A share (soon to be GOOGL) plus the price of the right to have a Class C share distributed to you. My brokerage linked me to this FAQ: http://nasdaqtrader.com/content/GOOGfaqs.pdf
"On March 27, the Class C shares will commence trading on a WHEN ISSUED basis (GOOCV). At that same time, the EX DISTRIBUTION WHEN ISSUED market for the class A shares (GOOAV) would be made available. This market represents the ability to trade the Class A stock without entitlement to the Class C distribution.
From March 27 through April 2 we will be trading: Class A shares regular way, with entitlement to the class C shares (GOOG); Class C shares when issued (GOOCV); Class A shares on an EX Distribution, when issued basis (GOOAV)."
So on the 28th, you would have a choice: If you bought shares of GOOG, you'd pay the full price, and you'd be entitled to the stock distribution. If you bought GOOAV or GOOCV, their prices would reflect the fact that you would not be entitled to the stock distribution, which means you'd pay roughly half the price of what you'd pay for GOOG.
Out of curiosity what happens if you bought shares on March 28th? Does your stock price just go to $600 or can you petition Google to have the new Class C shares issued to you to make up the loss in price?