>>> subsribtion required... <<
Not at Border's. There I get to read every newspaper and magazine I want for the price of a cup of Cappuccino with Amaretto....
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The Valley's IPO Flame-outs
by Chistopher H. Schmitt
San Jose Mercury News
Sunday, November 9, 1997.
Steve Farber had been watching carefully. So when the stock of Centura Software Corp., a newly public Silicon Valley firm, fell from $30 to $14, he was sure he'd spotted a great opportunity.
The Los Altos software executive bought in. Whereupon Centura's stock price promptly skidded to $10, and Farber bailed out with a loss.
"I felt stupid," he says.
What Farber encountered is a lesser understood, dark side of one of Silicon Valley's greatest success stories.
In one of the most intense entrepeneurial bursts in history, the Silicon Valley area has spawned 293 new public companies since 1992, creating more publicly traded firms in that span that all but a few states now have in total.
There have been some spectacular winners along the way, and a good number of people have become rich in a frenzy that has attracted attention from around the globe. But as Farber's experience illustrates, most of these initial public offerings, or IPOs, have become longer-term busts.
Yada, yada, yada.....
[Matt: The author rambles on for almost an entire page and a half after that, but our beloved Centura is never discussed again and our friend Steven is only mentioned once more as an example of those out there who have "collectively lost millions" investing in IPOs. The author's main theme appears to be that IPOs are not nearly as glamorous as many would like us to believe; and that 7 out of 10 IPOs actually see a decline in stock price soon after the IPO.] |
