Loudcloud opens up on Wall Street

Loudcloud, the e-commerce hosting and site development company founded by Marc Andreessen, went public Friday with an initial public stock offering of somewhat lower valuation than previously expected.

Opening on a downtick near midday, Loudcloud shares climbed 25 cents from the $6 issue price on volume of 2.9 million shares on the first uptick. Loudcloud trades under the ticker symbol "LDCL."

Loudcloud was slated to post its IPO Thursday. The company delayed its anticipated offering until Friday, citing the Monday snowstorm, which delayed meetings with investors, a company spokesman said.

The company boosted the number of shares offered to 25 million from 20 million, while reducing the price to $6 a share from a prior range of $8 to $10.

At the current level, the IPO is expected to generate $150 million, compared to between $160 million and $200 million at the previous price. Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co. and The Goldman Sachs Group will co-manage the sale, according to U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings.

Loudcloud builds and manages Web sites for large companies like Nike Retail Services, News Corp. and Blockbuster. In a flashback to days when profits mattered less than growth, Loudcloud has yet to make a profit, with losses of $180 million according to its SEC filing.

Investors view the IPO as the most recent test of the waters for the technology market.

Loudcloud, in Sunnyvale, Calif., is at http://www.loudcloud.com/.

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.