Salesforce.com Raises IPO Price Twice, Still Gets First Day Bump

from the impressive dept

Yet another sign that the dot com IPO window has been thrown open again. After a variety of problems and delays, mainly due to questions about CEO Marc Benioff's quiet period press appearances, Salesforce.com has finally gone public, launching that "other IPO," which many consider to be the second major IPO of the year, following Google. It appears that there was an awful lot of demand. Yesterday alone, leading up to the pricing, they raised the price from a range of $7.50 to $8.50 up to a range between $9 and $10. However, they clearly heard that there was a lot more demand, so when they sold the shares last night, they went for a price of $11. They opened this morning at $15, showing that they may have left even more money on the table, but it's not a ridiculous first day bump. So far, the price has stayed around that range. With a number of tech firms already rushing out the door it's likely that VCs and investment bankers alike are looking for just about every company they can toss through the IPO window before it closes again. There are certainly some good, solid, profitable companies this time around, but it's likely that they'll try to sneak a few duds through as well.