Gomez.com just filed for an IPO today, ASTN owns 30%
Thursday April 20, 9:52 am Eastern Time
Gomez, which ranks e-businesses, files IPO
WASHINGTON, April 20 (Reuters) - Gomez Advisors Inc., which objectively ranks
e-commerce companies by collecting consumers' opinions and then compiling them into
scorecards, filed on Thursday to raise $60 million in an initial public offering.
For example, Gomez, which is based in Lincoln, Mass., has an Internet broker scorecard
which reviews 142 Internet securities brokerages firms and ranks 57 of them based on 290
criteria.
The scorecards cover a range of other online industries such as banking, travel agents, cars and auctions.
They have become an analysis source for e-commerce businesses, gaining numerous mentions by CNBC, CNN, the New
York Times and the Wall Street Journal, Gomez said in an IPO filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The company plans to use the net proceeds from the initial public stock sale for marketing, hiring more people, expanding
network operations, working capital and other general corporate purposes, including possible acquisitions or investments.
The offering will be underwritten by Merrill Lynch, U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray and Robinson-Humphrey.
The preliminary SEC prospectus did not disclose how many common shares were being offered to the public, the price range
and other details, which are all expected in future filings.
Gomez, which has applied for a Nasdaq listing under the symbol ``GOMZ,' has a portal that ``makes it easier for consumers to
objectively identify and evaluate e-commerce business, engage in transactions with these businesses ... and obtain special values
on e-commerce products and services,' it said.
The company also offers GomezPro, which provides data analysis to e-commerce companies to help them attract and keep
customers.
GomezPro clients include brick-and-mortar businesses looking to establish an online presence as well as existing online
companies such as DLJdirect, Fidelity Investments and PayLess Drug Stores.
E*Trade Group Inc. (NasdaqNM:EGRP - news), the No. 2 online broker, accounted for 19 percent of Gomez's total
revenues in the nine-month period ending Dec. 31, 1999.
Prior to Jan. 22, 1999, Gomez was a subsidiary of Ashton Technology Group Inc. (NasdaqNM:ASTN - news), the
Philadelphia-based developer of financial transaction systems. |
