IPO Silly Season Returning?

Earnings, IPOs, and the like

from the window-open? dept

While there’s been a lot of talk about a new “bubble” in tech companies, one thing people have noticed is that not too many companies are going public — and the ones that do tend to have a better track record and sometimes (gasp!) they even have profits. However, it is still possible for ridiculous IPOs to occur. Case in point is Digital Music Group. We wrote about its planned IPO last month, and we’re amazed it actually went off. The company hits many of the Bubble 1.0 bad IPO checkmarks: company is less than a year old? Check. Company has almost no revenue? Check. Company is in a highly competitive space with little to no differentiation? Check. Company has huge losses over its short life span? Check. Company is almost totally dependent on one supplier who could cut off its revenue supply easily? Check. Admittedly, the stock did drop a bit in its first day, unlike many of the vintage bubble IPOs, but that just means they scored even more cash than the market actually thinks they deserve. The company has yet to make half a million dollars in revenue, and yet was able to raise $38 million from the public markets. It didn’t get that much press coverage, but it’s a warning that crazy season may be returning on Wall Street.