LinkedIn's headquarters in Mountain View, Calif.Paul Sakuma/The Associated Press
LinkedIn Corp. hasn't been faring well during the market downturn this year, falling 36 per cent in mid-July as investors retreated from some of the riskier areas of the market. The stock debuted in May, following a well-hyped initial public offering that certainly benefited early investors; despite the recent slide, the share price is still more than 50 per cent above its opening price.
The wild swings haven't dissuaded other companies from filing for IPOs. Renaissance Capital, a global IPO investment adviser and research firm, said that six additional companies joined the U.S. IPO pipeline on Wednesday alone, bringing the total to 180. The new ones operate in either technology and energy industries: Brightcove, Genomatica, Laredo Petroleum, Inergy Midstream LP, Jive Software and Eloqua.
"Filings from relatively risky companies like Brightcove and Genomatica are striking given that even established companies may flounder in the current choppy markets," Renaissance said in a note. "The companies will be hoping that recent investor interest in online video and bio-based petroleum alternatives, respectively, will outweigh lower risk tolerance."
Of course, investors are still awaiting the final word from Facebook, whose anticipated IPO would definitely overshadow everything currently sitting in the pipeline, and perhaps everything that has ever gone public. CNBC reported in June that the social media behemoth was contemplating an IPO in the first quarter of 2012, with a $100-billion (yes, with a "b") valuation.
David Berman