Google is preparing to float early next year in a deal valued at $15-25 billion, according to the Financial Times.

The iconic Internet search outfit is mulling the idea of holding a massive online share auction early next year in an initial public offering (IPO), the paper says. Some reports claim that the IPO has already been pencilled in for March.

The thinking behind the e-auction is straightforward enough. Google wants to avoid a recurrence of the sort of financial scandals that have engulfed Wall Street since the collapse of the dotcom bubble, the FT reports.

And, of course, such a move would cut the underwriting fees paid to investment banks.

No one at Google was available for comment at the time of writing. ®