IPO Roundup: Mediaplex prices at $12-The offering is 'under the radar' Tom Taulli
November 19, 1999 9:03am
By Tiffany Kary ZDII
Mediaplex (Nasdaq: MPLX) will debut Friday with 6 million shares priced at $12, the top of its raised price range of $10 to $12 a share.
Lehman Brothers is the lead underwriter for the offering, for which the original estimated range was $8 to $10 a share. SG Cowen and USB Piper Jaffray are co-managers for the deal.
This offering is "under the radar," said Tom Taulli, analyst for Internet.com. It is one of many gems getting lost in the shuffle with so many new issues coming to market.
Mediaplex's technology, which links corporate intranet of customers to their online advertising - so they can generate real time targeted adds, should make them a good bet, Taulli said. The company has also signed big deals with Ariba (Nasdaq: ARBA) and DoubleClick (Nasdaq: DCLK), he added.
"Mediaplex is a venture type of company - their technology, which they call MOJO, is the next step in online advertising," said Steven Tuen of IPO Value Monitor, who said the deal looked promising.
Mediaplex's services let companies integrate their internal business data with their online advertising and direct marketing activities to deliver customized messages and offers to Web site visitors. The company's proprietary technology, named "MOJO," an acronym for "mobile Java objects," lets its customers change the content of Internet messages instantaneously, in response to changes in their underlying business variables, such as inventory levels, product pricing and customer data.
Although the company's revenues are increasing, it has lost about $30.4 million since inception. For the 9 months ended September 30, Mediaplex had revenue of $13.9 million, as compared to $2.9 million in the 1998 period. Net loss widened to $12.6 million, versus $1.1 million in 1998.
Mediaplex's top clients, based on revenues from January 1, 1999 to September 30, 1999, were Ashford.com, DATEK Online, FreeShop.com, MyShopNow.com, OfficeMax, ShopNow.com, Strong Funds and uBid. In the first nine months of 1999, DATEK Online and ShopNow.com accounted for 17 percent and 11 percent, respectively.
Mediaplex's proprietary technology, MOJO, is currently being reviewed by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. If no patent issues, Mediaplex said it will rely on trade secret law to protect its technology, which may be more difficult to monitor and enforce.
Mediaplex faces competition from ad serving companies, such as AdForce (Nasdaq: ADFC), DoubleClick (Nasdaq: DCLK) and Engage Technologies (Nasdaq: ENGA); publisher networks that provide services directly to clients, such as Flycast Communications (Nasdaq: FCST) and 24/7 Media (Nasdaq: TFSM). zdii.com |
