Analysis: Investors keep watch as Classmates.com may become the first to go public.
By Georg Szalai and Paul Bond - Analysis
NEW YORK/LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Social networking Web sites have fired up industry deal headlines the past couple of years -- from News Corp.'s ground-breaking acquisition of MySpace to the recent purchases by the Walt Disney Co. and Viacom Inc.'s Logo network of Club Penguin and DowneLink.com, respectively.
Now it looks as if social networking could heat up the market for initial public offerings.
United Online Inc., a provider of consumer Internet and media services, recently registered for an IPO of its Classmates Media Corp. arm, which operates networking site Classmates.com.
Wall Street observers believe Classmates could test the IPO waters for a couple of other big names: Facebook, which has emerged as the biggest challenger to MySpace, and the more business-oriented LinkedIn.
Add to that comments from the CEO of U.K. social networking powerhouse Bebo.com about a possible IPO, and one gets the potential for a social networking feeding frenzy on the Street.
Amid the current global debt market jitters, some have suggested that IPO deal flow could slow as investors focus on conservative, known stock plays. Others point out that there has been little to no effect on the IPO market, which has sizzled this year but is on its traditional mid-August through Labor Day break as investment bankers go on vacation.
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