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uBid IPO soars four-fold
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December 4, 1998: 12:20 p.m. ET
Online auctioneer rockets as high as $67 a share from $15 offering price
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - After days of anticipation, online auctioneer uBid lived up to investors' high hopes and then some Friday, soaring to a 347 percent premium of $67 in its first trading day on the Nasdaq before settling back to $51.
The blazing start secured the Internet company's place in the growing pantheon of red-hot initial public offerings by Internet companies, led by such irrepressible upstarts as eBay and theGlobe.com.
Shares of eBay (EBAY) were off 5/8 at 186-3/8 Friday, while theGlobe.com (TGLO) was unchanged at 28-7/8 on the Nasdaq.
uBid, based in Elk Grove Village, Ill., raised $22.5 million after pricing its 1.5 million share IPO at $15 per share, the top of an expected $14 to $15 range. The company's lead underwriter, Merrill Lynch, had raised the price from an earlier $13 to $14 range.
UBid's fortunes Friday underscored the continuing strength of new Internet issues as the IPO market struggles to regain momentum after lying nearly dormant for months.
On Thursday, Ticketmaster Online-Citysearch, an Internet company that sells tickets via the Web for live entertainment events and offers a city update guide, rocketed 188 percent in its first trade session. Ticketmaster shares climbed 7-1/4 to 47-1/2 Friday.
After averaging 44 new issues a month in the first half of the year, new stock issues slumped dramatically in August, September and October on the heels of a market downturn. They have been making a gradual comeback since last month, with the appearance again for the first time of non-Internet issues in the IPO mix. 
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