THE DOT COM WORLD
● LINKEDIN
The most recent of the blockbuster dotcom IPOs, professional-networking site LinkedIn saw its share price more than double in value on its listing date of May 19. Shares rose as much as 171 per cent in the first day’s trading on the New York Stock Exchange and closed at $94.25, 109 per cent above the $45 start price.
● RENREN
China’s equivalent of Facebook raised $743.4m in its New York IPO in May that valued it at $5.1bn. Its shares rose 56.6 per cent above its $14 IPO price in its first day of trading before closing at $18.01, or 28.6 per cent, higher.
● GOOGLE
Valued at $23bn (£14.1bn)in August 2004 when it raised $1.67bn in its New York IPO. Shares were priced at $85 each but rose to close at $100.34 after the first day’s trading. Groupon’s letter to potential shareholders mimics the approach taken by Google in its own IPO documents.
● FACEBOOK
The world’s most successful social-networking site is expected to go public in the next 12 months. Its $500m fundraising in January valued it at a total $50bn but secondary market sales since have given it an estimated market value of $70bn – making it worth more than firms such as Boeing.
● TWITTER
Founded in 2006 by Jack Dorsey and Biz Stone, the micro-blogging site is worth an estimated $10bn (£6.12bn). However, in March Stone denied claims that the website could go public soon.