Savings Experiment: Snow Removal
The Money Man Behind Rick Santorum: Who Is Foster S. Friess?
A new book, The Prince of Silicon Valley
But those days seem quaint. In fact, the tech IPO market has been a backwater for the past decade, even though there have been some big deals -- like the offerings of Google (GOOG) and Salesforce.com (CRM).
So might tech IPOs be a relic of the past? Actually, this is the sentiment in a recent piece in the New York Times. In fact, it seems that -- in the Valley -- "IPO" is a dirty word.
And, there are some good reasons for this. The liabilities can be enormous when being public. Just look at the Sarbanes-Oxley law, which imposes tough penalties and criminal sanctions. Besides, it's expensive to run a public company.
However, the fact remains that public companies have always been subject to comprehensive regulations. And, is this a problem for Salesforce.com or Google? I doubt it.
The big problem is that investors haven't had the appetite to take on risks -- that is, investing in early stage companies. No doubt, if the public markets go back into a big bull phase, it's inevitable that entrepreneurs and VCs will see IPOs as a wonderful thing.
The good news is that there are some worthy IPO candidates now like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Zynga. If these companies can pull off some big-time gains, it will be a nice boost to tech IPOs and perhaps may be what's needed to get things out of the long-term funk.
Tom Taulli advises on business tax preparation and resolving tax problems. He is also the author of a variety of books, including The Complete M&A Handbook
Goldman Earnings Sink After Buffett Dividend
Johnson & Johnson's Income Falls 23%
Burberry Shares Leap on Sales Update
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
1-18-2010 @ 2:09PM
BHarrison said...
So, how many investors were snookered by the shennaigans of the IPOs of the past where there were so many inside deals behind the scenes. The problem with IPOs is the lack of integrity in the market place.
With the demise of the Blue Chip stocks, there doesn't appear to be any long term positions in the market. Now it is strictly short term investments like gambling at the roulette tables.
I, for one, have had my fill of the corrupt, manipulated markets. So, where is institutional investing going to go to? The insiders have exploited the market place to the point that they have undermined the integrity of their source of income; and the investors have little, if any, confidence in investing in the market.