Shares in Expedia Inc, the online travel service spun out from Microsoft Corp, rose as much as 371% Wednesday after their debut on the Nasdaq following the company’s IPO. The company sold 5.2 million at $14 each, then watched as the stock opened at $38 and traded as high as $65.875, before retreating to close at $53.4375 – a 282% gain on the day. A total of 11.52 million shares traded hands, making the issue one of the 15 most active of the day in addition to being the most advanced.
Expedia posted a net loss of $19.6m last year on revenue of $38.7m, according to documents filed by Microsoft in connection with the offering. The shares sold represented roughly 13.6% of the total outstanding and the closing price gives Expedia a market capitalization of about $2.04bn. The company had originally intended to price the offering at $10 to $12 per share, but upped that range due to heavy interest despite the recent negative developments in Microsoft’s antitrust case.
