Riding the wave of current investor enthusiasm for Linux, shares in Andover.Net Inc rose more than 250% from their $18 offering price to close at $63.375 in their first day of trading Wednesday. The Acton, Massachusetts-based company, which operates a Linux-related web portal, sold 4 million shares, or nearly 27% of the company, in its initial public offering, raising $72m before expenses. The shares opened on the Nasdaq at $49 and traded as high as $66.75. A total of 8.9 million shares changed hands during the session.
Andover.Net accounts for roughly 50% of all Linux-related web traffic and serves as a community and software distribution site for those involved with the operating system. In the first three quarters of this year, the company booked revenue of $2.6m and accrued a net loss of $11m. Revenue for 1998 totaled $1.3m and the net loss was $474,000. Based on Wednesday’s closing price, the company now has a market value of $951m.
