IBM Corp has spent $45m on a stake in Wayne, Pennsylvania-based Internet Capital Group, which completed its initial public offering last week. ICG provides capital and consultancy for e- business firms. IBM bought 3.75 million shares at the IPO price of $12 per share. IBM claims to derive up to 25% of its revenue from e-business sales, but hasn’t invested in early-stage e- business companies to date, in contrast to its competitors. Internet Capital has stakes in around 35 start-ups, and IBM says it will offer those companies and any new ones price breaks on its hardware, software and services. Internet Capital sold an additional 14.9 million shares at its IPO, and rose to a high of $33 on Friday, before closing at $30.31.
