Initial Public Offering Vonage Introduction Vonage the worlds leading provider of Voice Over Internet Protocol telephone services began in 2001, by 2002 they had their first residential customer. Vonage's decision to expand and acquire a larger customer base led to their IPO in May 24th, 2003. The difficulties faced by Vonage are no exception, many companies struggle with the decision of going public and timing. The loss of some control and the requirements can deter some companies from taking that leap, as is illustrated each step in establishing an IPO below. Registration, Disclosure, and Compliance In accordance with the Securities Act of 1933, Vonage could not make any offers to the public prior to a registration statement being filed with the SEC. The offer is not limited to actually offering the sale of stock, but includes any communication to the public that could alert the stock market or prematurely getting attention from the public. If for some reason, any information is leaked prior to the registration with the SEC, Vonage's IPO could be delayed until the SEC decides the market excitement has subsided, which could lead to lost opportunities for both the company and investors.
In today’s telecommunication market there is a lot of competition by industry giants such as Sprint, MCI, and AOL, but simultaneously the very high cost involved with entering and competing in this industry also makes it very unattractive for new entrants. These are just some of the big names who are planning to and are presently providing parts of the pipe dream that AT&T seems to seek. In this industry it is very important to have customer awareness of the line of products you carry. Most of the public hears the name AT&T or Sprint or MCI and they think telephone bills but many consumers do not realize that these companies have expanded their field of services from cellular phones to wireless web services. The reason mainly being the lack of marketing, and direct consumer advertising provided by these firms on the other line of p...
As the largest telecommunication company in the United States, Verizon sells the superiority of its network as the number one competitive advantage. However, over the course of a decade the telecommunication industry changed and having the best network was simply not enough to stay relevant. Telecommunication is an expensive business. “The financial challenges of keeping up with rapid technological change and depreciation can be monumental” (Investopedia, 2015). The Porter’s 5 Force Analysis of the telecommunication industry revealed that the availability of substitutions are high. This drives increase competition in the industry. Furthermore, deregulation has helped to increase new entrants.
Verizon Communications formed by the merger of two big and successful companies, Atlantic Corp. and GTE Corp., is the largest telecommunication company. The company serves large part of the market in United States. However the company faces certain strengths and weaknesses which affect the way company formulate its strategies.
In 1875 AT&T began its company, which was invented by Alexander Graham Bell. Graham had help in forming this global company from two men, Gardiner Hubbard and Thomas Sanders financially. Bell being the inventor tried and successfully invented a talking telegraph. In the few years to follow, Bell earned patents and in 1877 the three men formed the Bell Telephone Company to display the new invention, the telephone. In 1878 the first telephone exchange took place under license from Bell Telephone in New Haven, CT. Within the first three years, telephone exchanges existed only in major cities and towns in the United States and operated under the license, American Bell Telephone Company. In 1882, American Bell had interest in control with the Western Electric Company; therefore it became its manufacturing unit. Overtime, American Bell came to own most of its licensees and the enterprise became known as the Bell System. To build and operate the original long distance telephone network, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company was incorporated on March 3, 1885 and was made a fully owned subsidiary of American Bell. The AT&T network was built from New York, where it reached its initial goal of Chicago in 1892, and then San Francisco in 1915. AT&T acquired the assets of American Bell on December 30, 1899 and became the parent company of the Bell System. AT&T was able to be built out to Denver, Colorado due to the inventions of loading coils. Thanks to the first practical electrical amplifiers in 1913, AT&T made international telephony possible. Until Bell's second patent expired in 1894, the United States could legally only operate Bell Telephone systems. After Bell’s second patent expired in 1894 until 1904, over six ...
Underpriced IPOs generate excess demand and create a large number of small shareholders, this is important because high public participation in the company IPO create barriers on the challenge from outsiders.
This transformation process begins with an Initial Public Offering (IPO), which in most cases is a very difficult and intensive process (Phung, 2006b). An IPO is a formal, regulatory procedure that involves extensive documentation and is followed by a process of changes a company must go through in order to attain public status. The three phases include a pre-IPO transformation phase, an IPO transaction phase and a post-IPO transaction phase (Phung, 2006b). Running a publically-traded company is a completely different playing field which requires a company to restructure their management practices, organizational procedures and corporate governance (Clarkson, 770). Above all, shareholders must aim to maximize the company’s value by enhancing its growth strategy and projected profits in order to persuade investors to trade purchase shares. Completion of the pre-transformational phase will normally take about two years (Phung,
Verizon Communications was created on June 30th, 2000 by Bell Atlantic Corporation and GTE Corporation in one of the largest mergers in U.S. business history. Now, Verizon is a global technology company that is delivering digital technology to millions of customers daily worldwide. The "Verizon" brand was launched on April 3rd, 2000 and operations as Verizon Wireless started on April 4th. In 2003, Verizon began trading on the New York Stock Exchange and trading on NASDAQ on March 10, 2010. In 2004, Verizon Communications was added to the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Verizon has shown growth through acquisitions. The larger acquisitions were MCI Inc. in 2006, Alltel Corp. in 2009 and AOL Inc, in 2015 and these have made Verizon a leader in wireless technologies.
When a company decides to go public and has made the decision to offer the IPO, they usually do this to raise capital for company expansion and for future investments. This is how the company is looking for new financial resources, by looking for external investors to raise more capital. This is a common thing for up and coming technology IPO’s such as SnapChat.
Vonage has created a tool that prompts callers to select a few options from a phone menu. Once a caller dials into a company number, an automated record plays and informs the caller how to reach a desired extension. The extension numbers and the recordings can be updated from the administration portal in the settings page. The tool gives a company ability to create multiple virtual receptionists and scheduled to specific times. For example, one can set up a virtual receptionist for holidays or non- business hours. This ensures that there are no calls that get unattended at anytime whether on a holiday, working hours or past the business hours.
Cisco is one of Americas greatest corporate success stories. Since shipping it’s first product in 1986, The company has grown into a global market leader that holds No.1 or No.2 market share in almost every market section in which it participates. Cisco went public in 1990 on the nasdaq stock market with annual revenues at $69 million in that year. But now their revenues are at $12.2 billion in fiscal 1999. Their revenues in the last four quarters are shown in the figure below.
Firstly, the report will introduce the company and give an outline of the current operations, with focus on their current position in the market, and discuss the main competition faced in a global market. Secondly, focus will lie on the external forces and their influences on the company’s operations, along with discussing the strategic opportunities in order to overcome any facing competition. Finally, the report will include recommendations for the future of Vodafone and how they can become a market leader.
The IPO was oversubscribed 53 times as of 24th February. Retail investor’s portion was oversubscribed 4 times by 23rd February. This was first time that the retail portion in an IPO is oversubscribed before the qualified institutional investors (QIB) and non-institutional investors (NII). As mentioned by an investment banker, as the sentiment was bad for the IPO market and for the issue to sail through, they have intentionally left money on the table anf the price was kept low.
Technology continues to grow and change at an amazing rate. Companies come and go from the marketplace rapidly, and can be highly specialized. Historically, Yahoo had generated a large portion of its income from advertising revenue. As companies fail or leave the market, this affects Yahoo, by losing a customer who is no longer advertising (Indu & Gupta, 2007). By evaluating internet companies, and their life span, Yahoo could have recognized this issue more quickly and refocused efforts...
· In 1984 Ben & Jerry’s sets a precedent by establishing a Vermont-only public stock offering to raise money for a new manufacturing facility. Ben & Jerry’s sales exceed $4 million, a 120% increase from the previous year.
Now, dealing with monumental problems, Priceline.com is faced with a daunting future and a questionable long-term success. Will Priceline.com find itself pushed out the market by copycats, despite its patent? Fundamentally, can Priceline.com's survive?