IGN Entertainment announces intent to float on the stock market
Leading online videogames media and services firm IGN Entertainment has issued a long-expected confirmation that it is planning an initial public offering, with an early estimate valuing the flotation at around $200 million.
Leading online videogames media and services firm IGN Entertainment has issued a long-expected confirmation that it is planning an initial public offering, with an early estimate valuing the offering at around $200 million.
The company - which operates one of the largest networks of media websites in the world, including IGN.com, GameSpy, Rotten Tomatoes, 3D Gamers, TeamXbox, FilePlanet and AskMen.com - announced its intention to float in a brief statement this week.
It has filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission in the USA regarding the planned IPO, with Deutsche Bank Securities and Lehman Brothers signed up as book-running managers for the offering and UBS Securities and Jefferies Broadview serving as co-managers.
Details of the offer remain sketchy at this point, however; the number of shares to be offered, the offer price and even the timescale for the IPO have not been disclosed, although financial website IPO Monitor has provisionally valued the company's IPO at around $200 million.
That figure represents the amount of money that's expected to be raised from the offering, as opposed to the final valuation of the company; analysts believe that $200 million represents between 20 and 25 per cent of IGN's stock being offered, leaving the full company valued at between $800 million and $1bn.
This isn't the first time that IGN has been listed on the stock market - the company, then called Snowball.com, was originally NASDAQ-listed in March 2000 under the symbol SNOW, which was changed to IGNX after a major business reshuffle and name change in May 2002.
However, it was delisted in August 2003, when the firm was acquired by a group of investors in a transaction that brought the group private - since which the company has seen significant growth in terms of traffic and revenues, both through the expansion of existing properties and mergers with other brands including TeamXbox and GameSpy.
Update #1: Clarified meaning of $200 million figure with regard to overall company valuation.