RoweCom Prices IPO
Monday, March 8, 1999
By Jonathan Noel
IPO.com
Cambridge, MA based RoweCom Inc., which uses the Internet to help companies manage the cost of purchasing magazines, newspapers, journals, & books, has priced its 3.1 million shares at $16 per share, for an IPO total of $49.6 million.
Shares will begin trading tomorrow on the NASDAQ under the symbol "ROWE."
RoweCom filed an amendment with the SEC earlier today in which it and lead underwriter J.P. Morgan raised the price range from $12-$14 per share to $14-$16 per share. The 3.1 million share offering represents just over 30 percent of the total shares to be outstanding.
Assuming a price of $16 per share, the company has a market capitalization of $154.1 million.
Shares owned by CEO and founder Dr. Richard Rowe, who holds a Ph.D. in clinical psychology and was once associate dean at Harvard's Graduate School of Education, are worth almost $24 million. That's a number to keep in mind the next time you hear someone utter the phrase "there's no money in teaching."
The company, which has just under 100 employees, lost $7.6 million on revenue of $19.1 million in 1998, compared with a loss of $3.3 million on revenue of $12.9 million the previous year. It targets customers in the following industries: financial & professional services, high technology & healthcare, and academic institutions.
CIBC Oppenheimer and Volpe Brown Whelan & Co. assisted J.P. Morgan with the offering.
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Jonathan Noel is a reporter for IPO.com |
