Chris Nerney

The explosion of information and opportunity that is the Internet has forged a double-edged sword for businesses. On the plus side, a company can quickly and economically reach millions of potential customers through its own Web site and through banner ads and hyperlinks strategically placed on innumerable other sites in cyberspace. On the minus side, […]

I am writing this from a “safe house.” No, I am writing this on my laptop from a terminal at a major East Coast airport. Check that. I am dictating this from a pay phone to a “friend” who is typing on a computer in a Palo Alto cyber cafe. (Hey, what’s that clicking sound?) […]

It’s always sad to see an offspring leave the nest, except in those commercials where the exultant parents start measuring junior’s room for a hot tub before the kid has pulled out of the driveway to head off for college. Ziff-Davis said goodbye Wednesday to its Web-based prodigy, ZDNet Group, which made an impressive debut […]

Maybe investors should start wearing shades. Once again an Internet company has lit up the Wall Street landscape with a stratospheric IPO. The rocket’s red glare in this case comes from “name your price” reverse-auction Web site proprietor priceline.com, whose stock opened Tuesday at $81a share – more than five times its $16 offer price […]

Though Wit Capital’s IPO likely is at least several weeks away, it may have started building momentum already. Securities giant Goldman Sachs & Co. announced plans on Monday to buy a 22 percent stake in the online brokerage firm. Sources say the deal is valued at about $25 million. As noted in the Midday Report, […]

You’ve got to give Razorfish credit for thinking big. The Silicon Alley company, which is expected to go public the week of April 12, is attempting to position itself as nothing less than the one-stop provider for any and all digital technology service needs. That’s a lot of territory for a company to stake a […]

Who would have thought that rough-and-tumble Wall Street was a people kind of place? It appears to be, based on the early reception given MiningCo.com, which closed Thursday at nearly $59 a share, 24 percent above the $47.50 close on its first day of trading Wednesday, and 136 percent above the $25 share offer price. […]

Launch Media’s stock hasn’t even started trading yet, but its price just went up. The community-oriented music Web site just scored a major deal with Sony Music Entertainment (SME) that will allow it to offer members music videos from top acts such as Celine Dion, Lauryn Hill, Billy Joel and others.

Don’t look now, but with more than a week to go, an Internet IPO record already has been set in March. Monday’s S-1 filing by CRL Network Services, a Tier 1 ISP, brings to 27 the number of Internet companies that have registered this month to go public. The previous record of 25 was set […]

Nothing happened Monday on the new Internet IPO front, but if one online calendar is right, the rest of this week shapes up as quite busy for ‘Net ticker debuts. Six Internet companies could begin selling shares this week, including autobytel.com, Autoweb.com, Critical Path, MiningCo.com, OneMain.com and priceline.com. (Don’t count on priceline.com, though; the word […]

Ask the average person on the street what Wit Capital is, and they may guess that it’s another way to measure cleverness of intellect. Ask any experienced day trader or investment professional and, well, they’ve all heard of Wit Capital, the online brokerage and investment firm that filed last Thursday to sell $80 million of […]

Whenever I think of OneMain.com’s pending IPO, I picture Oliver Wendell Douglas climbing the telephone pole outside his farm in Hooterville to dial into his Internet access provider, as bubble-headed wife Lisa urges him to come down for a breakfast of rubbery hotcakes that even Arnold Ziffel would spurn. OneMain.com is positioning itself as “your […]