IPO

The problem with LinkedIn's stock price

After a spectacular IPO, LinkedIn's stock has lost nearly half its value. Yet it's still trading at 300 times its 2012 earnings. So why are Wall Street analysts recommending you buy it?

By Kevin Kelleher, contributor

FORTUNE -- The fears of another technology-stock bubble that prevailed in the first half of the year have faded away in the second half as a concerns about Europe's financial stability took the speculative wind out MORE

Groupon IPO is hot, but its business prospects? Not.

Groupon's IPO is predictably hot, but that won't erase the red flags and caveats that come with its business model.

FORTUNE -- Tech IPOs are infrequent enough these days that when one happens, it's a big deal. Groupon (GRPN) is turning out to be the biggest of big deals (whether Groupon is a "tech company" is open to question, but it's perceived that way, and that's what counts). The very infrequency MORE

The gloom about tech IPOs

Investors may be swayed by the hype around hot tech IPOs in advance and immediately after their public debuts. But data shows that hype-driven momentum fades soon enough.

By Kevin Kelleher, contributor

FORTUNE -- Tech startups hoping to find an exit strategy in the public stock market might reconsider. First, market turbulence and the prospect of a double-dip recession led the likes of Zynga and Groupon to consider delaying their debuts. Now MORE

LivingSocial CEO: Groupon is a copycat

Both daily deal sites are thriving, but as Tim O'Shaughnessy sees it, LivingSocial outpaces Groupon where it matters most: innovation.

FORTUNE – Few areas in tech are more buzz-worthy than the daily deals space right now. Groupon, often dubbed the world's "fastest-growing company," recently filed for an IPO, while LivingSocial, which reportedly picked a team of underwriters for its own public offering, isn't far behind.

But as LivingSocial CEO Tim O'Shaugnessy sees MORE

Zynga's IPO may be just what the tech bubble needs

The debate over whether we're seeing a new tech bubble has died down in recent weeks. It should heat up again this fall, as Zynga's IPO sets the stage for an even bigger debut: Facebook.

By Kevin Kelleher, contributor

FORTUNE -- The debate that has raged for most of the year over whether we're in a new tech bubble has grown quiet in recent weeks. But don't worry, it's just taken the MORE

How LinkedIn's bankers justify its price

The banks that believed LinkedIn was worth $45 a share last month now think it's a great investment at $85. Nothing changes on Wall Street.

By Kevin Kelleher, contributor

FORTUNE -- Consider the research analyst. Toiling in a job on Wall Street that is at once one of its most visible and least glamorous. Expected to write with integrity while serving - all too often - at the pleasure of the underwriting MORE

Pandora: The money-losing music machine

In Pandora's current business model, it loses money on every transaction. Nevertheless, it's riding the wave of tech IPOs.

FORTUNE -- There is a fundamental problem with Pandora Media's business model: the more its product is used, the more money it loses. That's the opposite of what makes a company viable in the long term. Nevertheless, the online music service is asking public shareholders to finance its growth so it can MORE

The checkered past of Groupon's chairman

Groupon's largest shareholder and chairman, Eric Lefkofsky, has a back story investors might want to know.

By Kevin Kelleher, contributor

FORTUNE -- "Lets start having fun... lets get funky... let's announce everything... let's be WILDLY positive in our forecasts... lets take this thing to the extreme... if we get wacked [sic] on the ride down-who gives a shit... THE TIME TO GET RADICAL IS NOW... WE HAVE NOTHING TO LOSE..."

This is a MORE

The case for a $50 billion Facebook

When will Facebook go public? How will it monetize its users? We don't know yet, but here's one educated guess about how much the social networking giant will be worth.

by Andy M. Zaky, contributor

Like many privately held companies, Facebook is very tight-lipped about its financial performance. It told us it became cash flow positive for the first time in September 2009, and earlier this summer it announced it had MORE

Look before you leap: M&A vs. IPO?

By Michael Orbach, contributor

Technology companies that are looking to take the plunge and go public might benefit from thinking twice. In many cases, they may be better off with an M&A or private equity transaction.

Lest we forget the lessons of our past, CEO's must remember that an IPO is a financing event in a recapitalization process, not a liquidity event. While it is encouraging that the number of information MORE