PayPal's IPO article:
Online Financial Firm PayPal's IPO Could Gauge Tech Economy's Health
By Hiawatha Bray
February 5, 2002
Even if PayPal has a bright long-term future, its stock offering may still languish, and not just because it's an Internet stock.
More than a year after the collapse of the dot-com bubble, an Internet company is heading to Wall Street this week. And the success of its stock offering could provide some clues about the health of the high-tech economy.
The Internet financial services firm PayPal Inc. of Palo Alto, Calif., plans to issue 5.4 million shares of stock in the company on Wednesday, at an opening price of $12 to $14 a share. PayPal hopes to raise up to $73 million.
Given the recent history of Internet stocks, the PayPal offering could be a tough sell, but some in the technology and financial worlds see it as a test case.
Glimmer of Optimism
"It comes from the genre of Internet companies, most of which have very severely disappointed investors," said Gary Craft, founder of FinancialDNA of San Francisco.
But Craft added that a successful PayPal offering could provide at least a glimmer of optimism in a moribund Internet IPO market.
"A successful deal would be very important. Certainly the investment banking world will perk up," Craft said.
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