Initial Stock Offerings

Loudcloud Inc., an Internet consultant headed by Web pioneer Marc Andreessen, has halved the implied market value of the company as it plans its initial public stock sale. Loudcloud would have an initial market value of as much as $674 million, according to amended plans filed last week with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Sunnyvale, Calif., company in December had estimated its initial market capitalization would be as much as $1.3 billion.

Several law firms filed suits this week against communications company Global Crossing Ltd., its executives and directors, Wall Street underwriter Morgan Stanley Dean Witter and others, accusing them of violating securities laws during Global Crossing's 1998 initial stock offering and the 1999 stock purchase of Frontier Corp. The lawsuits were filed in U.S.

The U.S. attorney's office in Manhattan has decided not to bring criminal charges against Credit Suisse First Boston over the firm's handling of initial public stock offerings during the late-1990s IPO boom, the investment bank announced Thursday. The U.S. attorney's office had been investigating how CSFB allocated shares of IPOs to investors as part of a far-reaching government probe of the IPO practices of major Wall Street brokerages.

Telecom in general continues to attract hoards of investment dollars. A hot new stock offering that will begin trading today: Net2000 Communications (ticker symbol: NTKK), a broadband services provider. It sold 10 million shares at $20 a share late Monday.

RivalNetworks Inc., the operator of a sports-related Web network with more than 500 channels, plans to hold an initial stock sale that could raise as much as $100 million. The company, whose largest investor is a unit of media mogul Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., said its Rivals.com sports network consists of channels focusing on everything from football to tennis to soccer. The sites cover high school, college and professional sports. RivalNetworks, incorporated in 1998, posted a net loss of $21.

Verizon Communications' (ticker symbol: VZ) Verizon Wireless Inc., the No. 1 U.S. mobile phone business, filed Thursday to go public in what would be one of the biggest initial stock sales ever. The Bedminster, N.J.-based wireless unit, which has more than 25 million customers, gave a preliminary assessment in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that the initial public offering could raise $5 billion, making it the third-biggest IPO in U.S. history.

Upscale furniture and home accessories chain Restoration Hardware Inc. said on Monday that it intends to go public with an initial stock offering of up to $69 million to fuel expansion plans in the burgeoning home furnishings market that is being buoyed by baby boomers looking to feather their nests with stylish, high-quality designs.

Xoom.com Inc., an Internet-based direct marketing company, and Exchange Applications Inc., a business marketing software developer, completed larger-than-expected initial stock sales Tuesday--indicating both may surge when they begin trading today. Xoom.com, based in San Francisco, sold 4 million shares at $14 each. That was at the high end of the $12-$14 range set by lead underwriter Bear, Stearns & Co., which had raised the range Monday from $9-$11.