Red Hat IPO to cap busy Linux trade show
By Stephen Shankland
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
August 6, 1999, 11:55 a.m. PT
The marketing frenzy caused by the computer industry's adoption of the Linux operating system shows no signs of abating, and one of the biggest noises at a Linux conference next week will come from Red Hat's IPO.
Red Hat, the leading seller of the Linux operating system, is scheduled to go public in the middle of the LinuxWorld Conference and Expo in San Jose, California. Institutional investors are scheduled to buy their shares on Tuesday, with trading by the general public scheduled for Wednesday, according to a spokesperson for Goldman Sachs, a firm underwriting the initial public offering.
The 6 million shares Red Hat will sell to institutional investors at a predicted price of $10 to $12 each, Red Hat said. But all eyes will be focused on where the shares actually price out Tuesday--conceivably during Linux leader Linus Torvald's keynote speech on the future of Linux--and at how much the shares trade for on Wednesday.
The Red Hat IPO is the first of several planned Linux-related IPOs, with others including VA Linux Systems, Caldera Systems, LinuxCare, and Cygnus Solutions. Though these companies are at various stages in their plans, sources have said the attention garnered by Red Hat's IPO has accelerated those efforts.
Red Hat's IPO will surely cause a buzz, but many other companies will use next week's show as a launch pad for updated Linux plans........>
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