“The eagerly anticipated stock offering from Linux distributor
Red Hat Inc. warmed chilled IPO waters Wednesday, with the shares
closing at more than triple their offering price.”
“But three other stocks making debuts Wednesday came nowhere
near Red Hat’s showing, reflecting the recent trend of
underwhelming first-day performances that has prompted several
companies to delay or cancel impending initial public
offerings.”
“Based on the 66.8 million shares outstanding after the
offering, Red Hat has an estimated market value of about $2.96
billion. Underwriters were led by IPO heavyweight Goldman Sachs
& Co.”
“Regardless of the degree of enthusiasm, all agree that Red
Hat has garnered attention by positioning itself as the company
best able to capitalize on the growth of Linux, the
open-source operating system that has been developed and updated by
a community of independent programmers, who, in turn, make all
their changes widely available on the Internet.”