This years top performing IPO, HLTH
Read what Ableson had to say this weekend;
A shining example is a health-information outfit that works the Internet called Healtheon. Healtheon is merging with a private company called WebMD, which has a Web-based information service for doctors and boasts Microsoft as a significant stockholder.
Thanks to its investment in WebMD, Microsoft will wind up with a bundle of Healtheon shares, once the finishing touches are put on the merger. Healtheon has been a real stock-market winner: It came public this February at $8 a share, enjoyed a nice little run-up to $126 before settling back.
Last Friday, it closed at 80, embellishing it with a $6 billion-plus market cap, completely justified since it's losing money and is in no immediate danger of doing otherwise.
Microsoft hopes to end up with a 17.2% stake in Healtheon after the merger and will have a seat on the board. However, our colleague Bill Alpert reports, its current ownership interest in WebMD translates into a larger position than that and larger apparently than it wants. As a result, it has been seeking to sell the equivalent of 1.8 million shares to trim its stake to the desired size.
None of this is terribly exceptional. What is exceptional, though, is, Bill has discovered, the price Microsoft is asking for the block: $52 a share -- or a cool 35% below last Friday's close.
Best Regards,
Mad2
BTW, nice thread!
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