8 Most Infamous Tech IPO Failures
Lastminute.com
Lastminute.com, a U.K. travel and leisure site was founded by Martha Lane Fox and Brent Hoberman in 1998. The company went public in United Kingdom on March 14, 2000, exactly at the start of dot com burst. Lastminute’s IPO was sometimes cited as the beginning of the end for the dot-com era.
The stocks surged in the first day to as high as 48 percent before settling at a 28 percent gain. But within the first two weeks, the stock price has dropped from 487.5 pence to 270 pence, which again dropped to 190 pence the following month. The company never reported a profit and in 2005 it was bought by Travelocity owner Sabre Holdings. The investors were forced to sell back the shares for 165 pence, a 205 pence (more than $3) loss per share to anyone who held the shares from IPO.
