Investors "snapped up shares of" TX-based Broadcast.com
on Friday "in one of the year's hottest" IPOs, according to
David Kalish of the AP. Shares opened at $18, but buyers
"sent the price skyrocketing" to $72 a share at one point.
The stock "eased a bit" to close at $62.75 a share on the
NASDAQ (AP/Ft.Worth STAR TELEGRAM, 7/18). In Ft. Worth,
Tommy Cummings writes that Broadcast.com -- formerly
AudioNet -- provides live and archived audio and video of
events from sports to music and "has been a godsend for
sports fans everywhere." Cummings added that if stock in
Broadcast.com "continues to rise, the increased capital
might go toward erasing some of the" $12.9M the company "has
lost" since it was founded in '95 (FT. WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM,
7/18). In N.Y., Beth Piskora wrote that Friday's IPO "made
instant multimillionaires" of the company's co-Founders Mark
Cuban and Todd Wagner. At Friday's close, Cuban's 28% stake
was worth $297M, while Wagner's 15% stake was worth $160M.
(N.Y. POST, 7/18). The company sold 2.5 million shares, or
a 15% stake, and at Friday's close, it had a paper value of
$1.05B, even though "it lost as much money last year -- $6.4
million -- as it took in as revenues" (DAILY VARIETY, 7/20).
