If the calendars are even close to on target, as many as 10 Internet
IPOs could begin trading this week.
The offerings includes one bona fide marquee IPO and three from
companies that provide investment-related news, research and services to
the online trading community.
This week’s “name” Internet IPO, of course, is barnesandnoble.com, the
online spinoff of books retailer Barnes & Noble and German media
conglomerate Bertelsmann AG. Trading under the Nasdaq symbol BNBN,
barnesandnoble.com plans to offer 25 million (yes, it says “25”) shares
in the $16 to $18 price range in hopes of raising $425 million. Expect
the actual offer price to be at least $20.
(Check out a recent Morning
Report in which Steve Harmon analyzes this IPO.)
It is the second try at an IPO for barnesandnoble.com, which filed the
first time last September, only to postpone the offering a couple of
weeks later after Bertelsmann paid Barnes & Noble $200 million for a 50%
stake in the online venture.
Ironically, the day barnesandnoble.com announced its first IPO filing,
incoming Bertelsmann CEO Thomas Middelhoff reportedly said the German
company would likely get into the online bookselling business by itself.
In November, the corporate partners named a new CEO for
barnesandnoble.com — Jonathan Bulkeley, former managing director of
Bertelsmann’s joint European venture with AOL.
Underwriters for the online bookseller’s IPO are Goldman Sachs, Merrill
Lynch, Salomon Smith Barney and Wit Capital.
Comprising the three investment-related IPOs are two online brokers and
the most comprehensive online source for real-time information about
Securities and Exchange Commission filings. They are:
- onlinetradinginc.com, an Internet broker that targets wealthy
investors and small- to medium-sized institutional investors. This IPO
was discussed in a recent StockTracker
column. - DLJdirect, a tracking stock for Wall Street investment bank Donaldson,
Lufkin & Jenrette. Begun a decade ago as PC Financial Network, DLJdirect
provides investors with trading services, market research, securities
trading primers and personalized portfolios. It also is the only place
online where investors can get in on DLJ-underwritten IPOs (of which,
obviously, this is one).Through aggressive Web marketing and its built-in brand name, DLJdirect
is on the short list of most popular online brokerages, along with
E*TRADE, Ameritrade and Charles Schwab, the biggest online broker.DLJdirect had $118 million in revenues last year (up from $67 million in
1997) and – here’s something you don’t see every day in the Internet
universe – a profit of $1.5 million.The company is offering 16 million shares in the $18 to $20 price range.
It will trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol DIR. - EDGAR Online, which has set an offer range of $8.50 to $9.50 per share
for 3 million shares. Proposed NASDAQ ticker is EDGR; lead underwriter
is C.E. Unterberg, Towbin.
This site offers Web users full SEC filings covering a range of
corporate activities, including IPO registrations, secondary stock sale
registrations, annual reports and proxy statements. Given that the
wealth of information is free, it’s no surprise that EDGAR Online is a
first-stop for investors seeking financial information on companies both
public and planning to go public.
Edgar’s revenue doubled to $2 million last year from $1 million in ’97,
while net losses increased in that same time from to $2.2 million from$1.5 million.
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