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: