Interesting Article Mentioning VRSN From Forbes.Com...
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Who's next?
By Om Malik
When the first Forbes 500 companies came
out in 1969, International Business
Machines (IBM) was one of three
technology companies on the list. And Yahoo!
cofounders, David Filo and Jerry Yang were only
a gleam in their fathers' eyes.
Twenty-nine years later, things have changed. On
the latest Forbes 500s lists there are more than
60 technology and telecommunications
companies--indicating the increasing
pervasiveness of technology in everyday life. And
the numbers are likely to go up when next year's
list rolls around.
In 1999 expect a score of Internet- and
network-related companies. The likely prospects
for the 1999 list are Amazon.com (AMZN), a
Seattle, Wash.-based online bookseller, Verisign
(VRSN), an Internet security software company
and networking equipment maker Juniper
Networks. (Juniper is likely to go public later in
1998.)
Amazon.com, which went public last year, has a
market capitalization of $2.04 billion, while
Verisign of Mountain View, Calif. has a market
capitalization of $900 million. These figures are
much lower than the $3.5 billion market valuation
of Watson Pharmaceuticals, which is ranked last
on the Forbes 500 list. However, these numbers
could change dramatically, if the current demand
for Internet stocks continues to rise.
And so far the odds are on Internet stocks'
heading higher. Year-to-date, the American
Stock Exchange's Internet Stock Index (IIX) is
up 15%, to 308.03, versus the 10.7% gain
posted by IIX for the whole of 1997, and 2.98%
for calendar 1996. (In comparison, the Dow
Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500, and Nasdaq
are up about 15% each, year-to-date.)
Juniper on the other hand could be one of this
year's hottest IPOs, should the company decide
to go public. The buzz around Juniper has helped
it raise more then $60 million from the venture
capital community, even before the company has
produced a single product.
Its list of backers includes 3Com, Telefon AB,
LM Ericsson, Northern Telecom, Siemens,
Newbridge Networks, Lucent Technologies, and
WorldCom's UUNet Technologies unit--which
together funneled $40 million last August.
Venture capital firms Kleiner Perkins Caufield &
Byers, New Enterprise Associates, Institutional
Venture Partners, Benchmark Capital, and
Crosspoint Venture Partners contributed another
$16 million, while the latest $6 million investment
has come from AT&T and the Anschutz Family
Investment Co., which holds a majority stake in
bandwidth provider Qwest Communications.
With potential customers as its backers and a
powerful team of VCs looking to reap hefty
returns on their investments, Juniper could just be
a shoo-in for the next Forbes 500 companies list. |
