March 19, 2007
Tech’s hot IPO streak unhurt by Wall Street funk
It seems that Wall Street’s new passion for technology IPOs has not been a casualty of the risk-aversion that has been spreading out from the sub-prime lending market.
Case in point: BigBand Networks, a supplier of technology to cable companies, which made its debut late last week. In keeping with the new fashion of the times, this nine-year-old Silicon Valley company had yet to turn a profit when it filed to go public late last year. It’s annualised revenues only reached $150m. Yet three days into its life as a public company, BigBand’s stock has jumped by more than 30 per cent, giving it a value just shy of $1bn.
Loss-making companies like this seem to be finding it easier than at any time since the Dotcom bust to make it to Wall Street. Let’s hope the comparison ends there.
