"The Word" from E*Trade About the RH IPO

After digging through three horrible voice-mail menus I finally got through to an E*Trade customer service representative named Jehnon Johnson who gave me the latest official skinny on the Red Hat IPO (as of 10:45 a.m. EDT) for "affinity" customers. If that's you, please read on. Update: 08/11 05:22 (5:22 p.m. PDT) by H : It's up and running-it's around 45$ per share, a three+ fold increase.

"You must reconfirm your conditional offer," Johnson said. To do this, you log into your E*Trade account, click on "Account Services," then "Other Questions," and click on "e-mail" to send an automatic e-mail reconfirming your offer. You can do this at any time, but Johnson advises "...doing it as soon as possible. The stock is being priced today."

Another alternative, Johnson, said, was to wait. As soon as Red Hat sets its final offering price - Johnson said, "I think it has been set at $14 per share" - E*Trade will send e-mail to everyone who has opened an E*Trade account and has money in it earmarked to buy Red Hat shares. This is the one that could come out during any two-hour period, any time. If you haven't reconfirmed already or don't do so immediately, you may want to check your e-mail hourly.

One big catch: if you only have $1000 or $1200 in your E*Trade account earmarked for Red Hat stock purchases, you need to send more. NOW! As in wire it, in accordance with the instructions on the E*Trade site. Otherwise you will not get any stock, according to Johnson.

Important Disclaimer: Please remember that Slashdot is not in the business of distributing investment news, and that things can change rapidly on the day a company does its IPO. If you have a direct financial interest in the Red Hat IPO, you should contact E*Trade directly for exact instructions and the latest news instead of getting your information from Slashdot. - Roblimo READ THIS OK, here's the deal. The official letter from E*Trade was sent, but it contains the wrong info as to how to confirm. Go in to the Account Services, and they say click on Other Questions at the bottom of page. It's not there-instead click on e-mail us on the right navbar. Inside of there, choose the other option, rather then a pre-set option, and it will take you to yet another page. From there, click on e-mail us. That should do it.

Comments

Call E*TRADE to re-confirm directed shares program

[Verement]

If you are an open source community invitee for directed shares, you should call E*TRADE immediately at (888) 707-8680 x4263 to re-confirm your Conditional Offer. E*TRADE has also been calling people who placed Conditional Offers to re-confirm. Don't feel upset that the web site only allowed a brief window to re-confirm online; this was only for the public shares offering, not the directed shares. You will have to use the phone (or wait for them to call you) to make sure you can still indicate your interest. Don't wait for them to call -- call now!

E-Trade just called me

[Bruce Perens]

E-Trade just called me, said I needed to re-confirm, and switched me to a broker. The hold music had an announcement that they were no longer accepting Red Hat offers, but of course that wasn't meant for affinity customers. There was a several-minute wait to get to the broker.

Thanks

Bruce