Search engine Google was aiming to float on Wall Street this week, valued at up to $36 bil

lion. But the Internet company's advisers are meeting this weekend to discuss possibly delaying the public listing after a sharp fall in share prices in New York on Friday. An insider said last night: "The float is teetering on the brink—it really is 50/50 at this stage, although many of us are optimistic." The initial public offering(IPO) of shares in Google, which could raise nearly $4bn, will amount to one of the biggest IPOs for years. But many US firms have shelved their IPOs amid volatile market conditions and investors appear unwilling to subscribe to new equity. A Wall Street analyst said that the Google IPO "would be a seminal event for the American stock market" as its real significance was that it would test whether or not the recovery in equity prices since the end of the Iraq war had taken hold. "If this float works, a lot of other companies will be encouraged and come to the market later in the year," the insider added. "But it will be bad news if the IPO is pulled or the shares fall sharply after the company is listed. If that happens, it could kill off the IPO market in America and elsewhere for at least 12 months."

Several fund managers have already expressed reservations about Coogle, in particular its high valuation and the complex way the shares are being sold. Moreover the Google flotation is taking place at a time when technology companies in the US have been shunned. On Thursday, the IPO hit a technical hitch over the failure of the company to meet its legal obligations concerning its employees' stock option plans. But the company did not think that the disclosure would mean a delay to the IPO, which is due on Tuesday, At the top of the suggested price range, Google would be valued not far short of its rival Internet firm Yahoo!—and this has raised eyebrows within the industry. The auction is being conducted over the Internet, and potential buyers will have to register by signing on to a Google website. But only investors who have brokerage accounts with one of the 28 US banks and brokers underwriting the stock sale, will be able to apply. Google suffered a setback last month after it re ported an unexpected, slowdown in its huge growth rate. But sources close to Google's founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, said that the tailing-off of growth was due to seasonal factors and would not affect the IPO.

According to paragraph 1, the insider's attitude towards Google IPO can be said to be

A．doubtful.

B．confused.

C．pessimistic.

D．confident.