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Wired tries IPO -- again
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October 22, 1996: 10:46 a.m. ET
Magazine hopes going public will help fund grab for Internet advertising
From Correspondent Carmine Gallo
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) -- Wired Ventures Inc., the parent of "Wired" magazine and the "HotWired" web site, pulled the plug on an initial public offering this summer when the stock market went south.
But now the market's back, and so is Wired's IPO -- although scaled back somewhat.
In an IPO that could begin trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market as early as Thursday, Wired plans to offer nearly 5 million shares expected to raise about $66 million.
That compares with earlier plans to sell about 6.3 million shares designed to bring in $75 million.
Yet even with the scale back, some analysts have a tough time recommending the IPO, expected to price at $12 to $14 per share.
While "Wired" magazine has 300,000 readers and Wired Ventures' revenues grew to $25 million last year, the 3-year-old firm has yet to make any profit.
Ryan Jacob, research analyst for the newsletter IPO Value Monitor, calls the planned offering "pricey."
"There is no visibility," he said. "The magazine is still losing money, and the Internet venture is still in its nascent stages."
Still, Wired's future could be bright.
While analysts only expect Internet advertising to total $80 million industrywide this year, experts see that figure growing to the billions of dollars by decade's end.
Experts say that while current advertising on Wired's web site is sparse, proceeds from the IPO could help beef up the site.
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