IPO=INITIAL PATHETIC OFFERING

May 12, 2005 11:00am by

Slate columnist Dan Gross has a new "Moneyblog."

I particularly liked his post on IPOs:

Ever go to a Tower Record store, flip through the racks of discs made by
groups and artists you never heard of, and wonder: “who buys this crap?”

One might well ask the same question about one of the companies that stamps
out those discs: Warner Music Group.

Warner’s IPO
wasn’t so much launched as it was thrown out a third-story window. Because
investors fled from the road shows, the number of shares sold and the original
price ($22 to $24 a share) were slashed sharply, to 32.6 million shares at $17.
But even that wasn’t low enough. WMG fell 3.5 percent on its first trading
day.

And who was behind this steaming pile? Why, some of the same folks who
earlier this week brought us Lazard’s initial poor offering. (It’s already off
8.5 percent in just five trading days.) Um, isn’t Goldman, Sachs supposed to be
an elite firm? And if it’s so elite, how come the high-profile IPOs it shepherds
to market act like Chevy Chase doing Jerry Ford? (Hint: investors like it when
the company actually gets to keep some of the cash raised in the offering.)

Any clever ideas for what the acronym IPO stands for? "Initial Poor Offering" or "Institutions
Pissed Off" or "Investors Pooped On?" (I cannot take credit for any  of these). Please post any other suggestions you have in the comments (and, the Adult filter is turned off — so feel free to go wild!)

Moneyblog is another blog to add to your linkfest of market/finance/economics related weblogs.

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What's been said:

Discussions found on the web:
  1. rob commented on May 12

    check out the performance of last years web ipo’s. incx,jobs,ecst,shop,nine. caveat emptor.

  3. praktike commented on May 12

    it’s hard to beat “investors pooped on.”

  4. muckdog commented on May 12

    (Would the adult checker have filtered out “pooped?”)

    Idiotic Purchaser Optimism

  5. judyo commented on May 12

    Unless it was “Pished On”

  6. John commented on May 12

    Insidious Plooking Operation

    Insert Penis Obtrusively

    Insufferable Prick Opportunists

  7. David commented on May 13

    hey, we should be CELEBRATING the ability of the banks to sucker/ sell to investors. the CLIENT (i.e. the guys flogging the stuff) did VERY well. i think some of y’all are just jealous at the GS sales ability.

  8. John commented on May 13

    David,

    If you’re joking, I apologize for not getting it.

    Warner Music has made a living screwing musicians in the ass—violently, sans grease, drink, reacharound or kiss.

    I cannot tell you how much it really deeply pisses me off to know that they’ve gotten away with this. I’m sure you are not aware of the fact that their latest, greatest accomplishment has been losing the entire King Crimson catalogue?! They seem to have, uh, “misplaced” all the masters, dating back to 1969. This is because Robert Fripp refuses to bend over, and wastes valuable guitar-playing time hiring lawyers to fight these record industry pricks. (I personally think he’s Da Man for doing this; Zappa did it too.)

    Here’s a little reading on the industry for you. Be sure to follow the link at the bottom of the page. Record companies are scum of the worst order; Enron could only dream of being that scummy.

  9. Marvin commented on May 13

    IPO = “It’s Probably Overpriced!”

  10. calmo commented on May 14

    IPO is perfect as it stands: initial public offering and should remind us of those lambs and virgins who were offered to appease the gods.
    There should be a shameless ‘second public offering’, or ‘pre-initial offering’ for those with a sense of humor or desperation.

  11. NHL Washington Capitals commented on Apr 1

    The best hockey club is NHL Washington Capitals! Russian attacking club NHL Washington Capitals Alexander Ovechkin for the first time will take part in a match of “All stars” NHL. I Love Hockey!

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