David Kastrup wrote: [...] > And another irrelevant link, congratulations. What the concrete > Google financials have to do with what to expect in the wake of an IPO > will probably remain your secret.
Google also had an IPO, stupid. > > If it has not escaped you, http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/4950 ------ If you have the stomach for reading financial reports, Red Hat's IPO prospectus (or S-1 filing) is a page-turning descent into the code- eat-code world of operating systems and computing competition. Because there can be no secrets in SEC filings--at least no secrets disgruntled investors could later point to as examples of fraud or deceit-- companies are often brutally honest when appraising their own prospects. For example, under the heading "Risks Related to the Open Source Business Model," the Red Hat S-1 announces in full caps: "OUR SOFTWARE CONSISTS LARGELY OF CODE DEVELOPED BY INDEPENDENT THIRD PARTIES WHICH MAKES IT DIFFICULT TO ASSEMBLE AND TEST," and "WE EXPECT TO INCUR SUBSTANTIAL LOSSES IN THE FUTURE," and my particular favorite, "OUR ABILITY TO GENERATE REVENUE FROM SALES MAY BE ADVERSELY AFFECTED IF USERS CAN QUICKLY DOWNLOAD RED HAT LINUX FROM THE INTERNET." ------ Actually, according to S-1, they originally planned to make living by transforming to major Linux Web Portal hoping to attract lots of advertising and site sponsors. Like Google. :-) http://news.com.com/2100-1001-251961.html Now, ------ Good riddance to the portal play But there have been some changes since the go-go technology days of 1999, when Red Hat went public. The company's IPO prospectus spoke extensively of Red Hat's Web traffic, advertising revenue, and plans to be a major Linux Web destination. Now most of that has passed by the wayside. Good riddance, Young said. "Page views...was a metric that the investors were watching very closely. It wasn't a metric we cared about," he said. "We were under constant pressure to invest in things that have a lot of page views. But management couldn't figure out where the money was." Financial analysts pushed the Web site plans, and Red Hat accordingly adjusted its S-1--the document filed to describe the company's plans before the IPO. "If your S-1 is designed to sell your stock to Janus and Fidelity, you give Janus and Fidelity what they want to know," he said. ------ regards, alexander. _______________________________________________ gnu-misc-discuss mailing list [email protected] http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/gnu-misc-discuss
