Great Early Response for LinkedIn IPO, But Is It Really Great?
Just this morning, LinkedIn–the largest professional social network on the market–has had one heck of an IPO launch, and it got a great response, too. The company got a popped up rate of 90%+ above the IPO price, and has been truly overwhelmed with the kind of response they have received. Company’s stocks have surged from $47.99 to $92.99 and traded at $83.32 at 10:05 a.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading.
The company originally filed for its IPO late January this year, and first planned to raise about $175 million. Prior to this, LinkedIn sold 7.84 million shares at $45 each and raised the proposed range for the share sale on May 17, to $42-$45 each, up from $32-$35. All this has raised around $352.8 million for the professional networking website, which sounds really good from most perspectives. Additionally, it is believed to have raised as much as $405.7 million, as there is an option of over-allotment for underwriters to buy an additional 1.18 million shares.
“The valuation for LinkedIn is rich,” said Michael Moe, chief investment officer of GSV Capital Management in Woodside, California, in a televised interview yesterday with Bloomberg West. “To earn the valuation, it has to continue to grow very, very fast.”
The introduction and launch of this IPO has really made LinkedIn- ‘Hero of the day’, and put it in the spotlight for tech bubble talk, amongst other topics. But…there are a few things that raise questions, wondering if the IPO is really a success for the company as there are doubts among industry experts that its underwriters have wildly underpriced the deal, and selling LinkedIn’s stock to institutional clients way too cheaply.
Just to refresh, Morgan Stanley and Bank of America are the underwriters of LinkedIn’s IPO. While the company’s stock was trading above $80 a share this morning, its underwriters sold the same stock to their best institutional clients at $45 a share last night. This clearly reflects that Morgan and BOFA gave their best institutional clients a gift of at least $175 million this morning by under-pricing the stock, and also took out money right from their pockets.
So, what’s the irony behind this? It’s that LinkedIn’s people are celebrating the success and don’t know that they may have been screwed! But we strongly believe that the LinkedIn IPO should deliver huge profits to investors who scooped up LinkedIn shares before the deal on private-company exchanges such as SharesPost Inc. and SecondMarket Holdings Inc.
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