ipo

Pfizer Spins Off Zoetis, Biggest IPO Since Facebook, Shares Soar

Pfizer's animal health business Zoetis has raised about $2.2 billion in its initial public offering of 86.1 million shares, and the stock is expected to begin trading Friday. Merck & Co.'s fourth-quarter profit fell 7 percent as generic competition slashed sales of its blockbuster allergy drug Singulair.

SeaWorld Files to Go Public with $100 Million IPO

SeaWorld's owner, Blackstone Group LP, will likely sell some of its stake in the deal. But the private equity firm will still own a majority of the voting power of the company's shares after the IPO, the company said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

What Private-Equity Firms and Vampires Have In Common

The answer: dividend recaps. You see, you may think that when private-equity firms buy troubled companies, their plan is to fix them up and resell them. But often, the real plan is to load the companies up with debt, suck huge sums out of them, and stick the next set of investors with the bill.

3 Rules for Kick-Starting a Crowdfunded Business

Crowdfunding -- in which several investors put up cash for a project or business idea posted to the Web -- has become a major source of capital for start-up entrepreneurs. But just because you can go to the Web to raise seed money fast doesn't mean you should, or that it'll be easy.

Realogy Soars in 1st Day of Trading on NYSE

Shares of real estate services provider Realogy, whose brands Century 21, Coldwell Banker and The Corcoran Group, soared more than 22 percent in their first day of trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

Maker of Fender Guitars Files for $200M IPO

The company that makes Fender guitars is going public with a $200 million IPO. The iconic guitar maker was founded in 1946 by Leo Fender, and Fender guitars were played by some of the world's biggest music stars, from The Beatles to Jimi Hendrix to Eric Clapton.

Mark Zuckerberg's 6 Secrets for Success Revealed

Facebook's IPO has focused yet another spotlight on its founder, Mark Zuckerberg. But beyond the hoopla, there's another, quieter story to be found in the wunderkind CEO -- the lessons that can be gleaned from his life.

The 10 Most Important IPOs to Watch in 2012

After a year which featured lingering economic uncertainty, and underperformance from many popular IPOs, 2012 should see some exciting activity from the more than 200 companies hoping to go public. Here are 24/7 Wall St.'s picks for the top IPOs to watch.

Yelp IPO's Profit Enigma: Is the Site Making Money?

After reading the breathless media coverage about the rumored $2 billion Yelp IPO, I have one question: Does the online-review site make money? None of the articles made any mention, but profitability is the issue that should be first on investors' minds.

Most Expensive Groupon? The One You Forget to Use

As Groupon prepares for its IPO, here's a gentle reminder to the company's original public investors: the bargain buyers. If you don't redeem those Daily Deals -- and many of us forget to after we buy them -- they're just money down the drain for you, and pure profit for the company.

Should You Buy Shares in Your Favorite Sports Team?

The Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers got the NFL's approval this week to sell more stock to the public, but even the Pack can't compete with the buzz of another anticipated "football" stock offering: Manchester United. Certainly owning shares in a team makes for great pub talk, but is it a wise investment?

4 Big Firms, 4 Big Surprises: JTH, HP, Starz and ATT

The parent company of Liberty Tax picked an awful time to announce its IPO, a day after rival H&R Block announced weak quarterly returns. But JTH Holdings' taxing dilemma wasn't last week's only head-scratching news. Here are some of the week's other biggest surprises, blunders, and just flat out boneheaded maneuvers.

This IPO Could Be The Next Exxon Mobil

Biofuels company Solazyme owns a unique process when it comes to converting algae into a fuel could replace the gas in your car -- a method that could be used to create oil on an extremely large scale and at an extremely low cost. The company has just announced it's going public: You might want to get in on the action.

Meet China's Next Hot IPO

The world's most populous nation is warming up to social networking, restrictive shackles and all. Chinese social site Renren, with its 117 million users, filed to go public last week, giving stateside investors another shot to cash in on China's online revolution from the inside.

How You Can Profit From Watson's Jeopardy Win

Last month, IBM's Watson supercomputer beat trivia champs Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter on Jeopardy. At the core of Watson's success was something called Semantic Analysis Technology, and if you want to make your own Jeopardy bet, put some money on the companies that supply it.

Where You Should Invest in the Latest Tech IPO Wave

A new crop of tech IPOs are en route to the market, among them vacation rental website HomeAway, online radio site Pandora and business networking site LinkedIn. But how can you tell if these startups are worthy of your cash? Here are the four questions to ask before buying into an IPO.

RPX's Plan: Make a Fortune by Fixing the Patent Mess

RPX has been in business since just 2008, but it has rapidly built a list of big-name clients attracted to its novel service. It offers tech companies a way to gain access to patents without having to own them outright -- and without having to deal with litigious "patent trolls."

Groupon IPO Could Value Coupon Company at $15 Billion

Groupon is planning an initial public offering that would value the three-year-old online coupon distribution site at as much as $15 billion -- more than double what Google reportedly bid on the company last year -- The New York Times reported.

Is NeXt a Better Way to Buy Into Facebook Before the IPO?

Unless you're ultra-wealthy or willing to chance the vagaries of the secondary markets, you can't invest yet in hot social networking companies like Facebook, Zynga or Groupon. But soon there may be an alternative: a new fund called NeXt BDC Capital that will take stakes in top-quality venture-backed firms like those.

M&A Mania: Early 2011 Deals Already Hit a 10-Year High

Companies such as Duke Energy and DuPont are off and running with megamergers early this year. Even Playboy is among the dealers. And market pros say the trend is far from over. Why are so many U.S. companies tying the knot? Fast growth is hard to come by in any other strategy.

Fiat May Raise Its Stake in Chrysler to 51% Before IPO

Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne said Monday that he could increase Fiat's ownership in Chrysler to more than 50% should America's smallest domestic automaker seek to return to the stock market this year, but that he doesn't plan to merge the companies' operations.

The Year in Tech: Top 10 Highlights of 2010

A broad array of technology news helped define 2010, from the launch of Apple's iPad to the arrival of the app to a supernova of Internet stock gains. Here's a look back at those major stories -- and a glimpse of some highlights you can expect next year.