When Google went public on Thursday, it immediately became one of the most highly valued companies in the world. Sergey Brin and Larry Page, its co-founders, are now billionaires (at least on paper). And the company raised an immense pile of cash that will stand it in very good stead as it faces an increasingly competitive future. You might think, then, that Google's initial public offering was a success. But that is far from the message from Wall Street and much of the financial press. They prefer words such as "debacle" and "amateur hour" to describe Google's performance. On this view, Google looks like a runner staggering across the finish line, out of breath and gasping for water.

The obvious reason for describing Google this way is that the company had to cut the price of its share offer and reduce the number of shares that would be sold. Wall Street has interpreted this as evidence that Google's decision to circumvent the traditional IPO process - going directly to investors with a "Dutch auction" instead of allowing an investment bank to underwrite its shares - was a terrible mistake. Had the company just given itself over to the Street's warm embrace, everything would have turned out fine.