As you probably remember, the professional networking (no other way to describe it) site LinkedIn went public in May under the symbol LNKD. Its IPO (initial public offering, or first release of shares in the stock market) was valued $45 per share. Later that day, LinkedIn shares were trading at $122.
LinkedIn closed at $94 per share, with a volume of 30 million shares. Not bad for a day’s work. (News article.)
So when the internet radio station Pandora announced it would go public on the 14th of June, investors were eager to get their hands on some shares. If LinkedIn could double its price in a day, couldn’t Pandora?
Things started well for Pandora. Pandora’s IPO was valued at $16 per share, and on its first trading day (Juni 15) it reached $26 at one point.
But then the collapse. 2 days after its IPO, Pandora fell to $13 per share (article.) LinkedIn has fared slightly better; it’s only slid to $68 per share. That’s a considerable amount more than the original IPO, but it’s quite a far cry from the $94 from opening day.
Meanwhile, rumors are floating around that the mighty Facebook is planning on going public with a $100 billion IPO. That’s probably an exaggeration, but I’m fairly sure Facebook is considering going public sometime soon.
Although with the current state of tech IPOs like LinkedIn and Pandora, I’m not sure how Mr. Zuckerberg feels about that.
