NetSuite plans to begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange Dec. 21 under the symbol N. But NetSuite, majority-owned by Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, is taking a decidedly Google approach to selling its shares.

When Google went public in 2004 with the hottest offering in years, the stock opened at $100.01. Google executives insisted on a highly unusual format of granting shares: an online auction. The theory was that an auction would make its shares more widely available, particularly to individual investors.

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