Internet IPO Launch Pad Gathers Dust

For the second month in a row, the Internet IPO market was stagnant, with
only a half-dozen ticker debuts in May. June promises to be not much better.

If you exclude January, which traditionally sees few public offerings, May
was the quietest month for ‘Net IPOs in the past year and a half.

And while the average first-day results were slightly higher than April’s,
the 38 percent posted in May is the second-worst monthly showing since we
began tracking Internet IPO performances in January 1999.

There are no more than a dozen or so Internet companies slated to begin
trading in June, but you can be sure that several, or maybe even most, will
postpone or delay their public offerings if the market climate doesn’t
improve. Indeed, that’s why about half of them are on the launch list for
late June; that gives them plenty of time to see which way the wind is
blowing.

Through the first quarter of this year, Internet IPOs were on track to
exceed 1999’s total of 258. Now, unless things heat up considerably, even
reaching 150 may be a challenge.

What a difference a meltdown makes.

Month This year 1999
January 5 4
February 27 11
March 27 13
April 13 17
May 6 26
Total 78 71

Average First-Day Return (By Month)

Month This Year 1999
January 160% 241%
February 126% 122%
March 99% 134%
April 31% 116%
May 38% 59%

10 Best Internet Debuts of 2000

Company IPO Date Gain
webMethods Feb. 11 508%
Crayfish March 8 414%
Selectica March 10 371%
FirePond Feb. 4 356%
Neoforma.com Jan. 24 303%
Extensity Jan. 27 256%
ArrowPoint March 31 248%
GigaMedia Feb. 17 226%
net.Genesis Feb. 29 216%
eMerge Interactive Feb. 4 215%

10 Worst Internet Debuts of 2000

Company IPO
Date
Gain/Loss
ARTISTdirect March 28 -22%
AsiaContent.com April 12 -21%
coolsavings.com May 19 -21%
PartsBase.com March 22 -12%
ImproveNet March 16 -12%
Hanaro Telecom March 29 -9%
HealthStream April 11 -6%
VarsityBooks.com Feb. 15 -1%
SAVVIS Communications Feb. 15 0%
Pets.com Feb. 11 0%

Here are the May Internet IPOs, listed by date, with their first-day
performances:

  • May 2 – WHEREVER.net(WNET)
    , 0.3%

  • May 12 – Sequoia Software(SQSW)
    , 26%

  • May 18 – iBEAM(IBEM)
    , 40%

  • May 19 – coolsavings.com(CSAV)
    , -21%

  • May 19 – Parthus Technologies(PRTH)
    , 65%

  • May 25 – Sonus Networks(SONS)
    , 120%

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