Article Abstract:
Broadcast.com closed at $62.75 a share on the Nasdaq stock market on Jul 17, 1998, establishing a record Wall Street opening-day gain of 250%. Investors traded more than 6.5 million shares of the company, which since 1995 has offered programming such as live news, radio and music over the Internet. Dallas-based Broadcast.com's market capitalization slightly exceeded $1 billion in just hours, while co-founders Mark Cuban and Todd Wagner became instant paper millionaires. Internet stocks have been popular among investors throughout 1998, but the performance surprised even the underwriters who had priced Broadcast.com at $18 a share. By comparison, Netscape's first day of trading in the summer of 1995 yielded a 108% surge and market value of $2.2 billion. Broadcom, which supplies silicon chips for high-speed data transmissions, is one of the few other start-up companies that have met $1 billion in their public offering.
User Contributions:
Comment about this article or add new information about this topic:
Article Abstract:
Investment analysts interpret the runup in the prices of Internet-related stocks as an example of continuing market irrationality in that sector. One consequence is a flood of new issues. Analysts worry that poor-quality issues, which represent efforts to cash in on the market's obsession with these stocks, will ultimately damage the prospects of solid offerings once the speculative bubble has finally run its course. For now, the stocks continue to be the darling of investors, seeing increases in value on the day of issue of as much as 644%, an increase made even more amazing by the fact that virtually none of the Internet stock issuers has made or can foresee a profit. One signal that analysts believe signals the end of the frenzy is the growth of insider selling of these securities, suggesting that they think valuations have reached their peak.
User Contributions:
Comment about this article or add new information about this topic:
Article Abstract:
The Motorola Corp. and Cisco Systems have formed an alliance that will create the world's biggest wireless Internet system. The companies plan to invest over $1 billion to build a system capable of transmitting data, voice and video through existing cellular telephone stations to portable computers, wireless phones and other devices. The venture would establish new lines of products from each of the companies and will require an Internet Protocol platform compatible with various formats of wireless products. The planned venture comes as a number of communications equipment and networking firms are merging or creating alliances.
User Contributions:
Comment about this article or add new information about this topic: