Why does Google Finance show Visa trading history if Visa has not yet had an IPO?
Maxie asks:
If I look up Visa (symbol = V) on Google Finance, it shows stock history from 2005 and 2006. If Visa has not yet had an IPO how can they have stock activity?
If I look up Visa (symbol = V) on Google Finance, it shows stock history from 2005 and 2006. If Visa has not yet had an IPO how can they have stock activity?
http://finance.google.com/finance?q=NYSE%3AV
Is this some sort of glitch where some other company used to have the symbol V?
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It is trading on a “when issued” basis. That means that when you buy it your brokerage account gets an IOU for the shares. When the stock is traded publicly, the person selling to you must go to the market and buy the stock (regardless of what it might cost) and deliver it to your broker to replace the IOU.
If you change your mind before the IPO, you can sell the IOU to someone else.
You are correct that they could not have had trading activity in 2005 and 2006.
I believe that is the explanation. Until August, 2006 V was the ticker symbol for Vivendi ADS shares.
The first answer is right that it is possible for a stock to trade on a “when issued” basis, but that would never happen over a year before the IPO.