Andover.Net Files for IPO

The title of this story pretty much says all I can say: Andover.Net has filed a registration statement for an Initial Public Offering. This means that we are officially in a quiet period and I can say nothing more than "No Comment" from this point on. I am however allowed to post the Press Release which you can get from the link below. For more information, please go to open.andover.net.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Contact: Janet Holian
Andover.Net
Communications
978/635-5300
janet@andover.net

Shawn Whalen/Manya Rossignoli
Schwartz
781/684-0770
manyar@schwartz-pr.com

ANDOVER.NET FILES REGISTRATION STATEMENT FOR INITIAL PUBLIC OFFERING

Acton, MA-September 17, 1999- Andover.Net (www.andover.net), a network of Linux/Open Source web sites which include Slashdot.org, today announced that it has filed a Registration Statement on Form S-1 with respect to a proposed initial public offering of 4,000,000 shares of Andover.Net common stock. All 4,000,000 shares are being offered by Andover.Net at a proposed price range of $12 to $15 per share. The offering is being underwritten by WR Hambrecht + Co. LLC, Advest, Inc. and DLJ Direct through WR Hambrecht + Co.'s proprietary OpenIPO system.

Andover.Net is a leading Linux/Open Source Internet destination with a total of over 2 million users and over 40 million page impressions on a monthly basis. Its network of web sites provides an independent, unbiased source for content, community and commerce for the Linux/Open Source communities. Andover.Net properties include Slashdot (slashdot.org), a Web site for Linux/Open Source news, community comments and resources and Freshmeat (freshmeat.net), a downloadable Linux software application repository.

The OpenIPO process is similar to a traditional underwriting except that the pricing and allocation of the shares will be based on the results of a modified Dutch auction. All investors place a bid for the number of shares they want to own and the price they want to pay. To participate in the offering, an investor must have an account with WR Hambrecht + Co. or a participating broker in the OpenIPO Network.

Information regarding the OpenIPO process may be obtained through www.wrhambrecht.com. Copies of the preliminary prospectus relating to the offering may be obtained when available through WR Hambrecht + Co.'s website, www.wrhambrecht.com, or by contacting WR Hambrecht + Co. in writing at 555 Lancaster Avenue, Suite 200, Berwyn, PA 19312 or by calling toll free 1-877-673-6476. Copies of the preliminary prospectus may also be obtained by contacting Advest, Inc. in writing at 100 Federal Street, 29th Floor, Boston, MA 02110, or by calling (800) 659-2678 x2390.

A registration statement relating to these securities has been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission but has not yet become effective. The securities may not be sold nor may offers to buy be accepted prior to the time that the registration statement becomes effective. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to their registration or qualification under the securities laws of such state.

###

Andover.Net and AndoverNews Network, are trademarks of Andover.Net.

Comments

Get rich quick syndrome

[Anonymous Coward]

This has nothing to do with the failure of communism, or micros~1's right to redistribute stolen money. What we're witnessing is pure (or even innocent?) form of wealth-seeking.

Andover.bet bought out Slashdot.org (note: the dot.com and dot.net domains aren't theirs) in order to take advantage of its visibility in cashing in the IPO. This "anti-establishment" site which set out to make the world a better place for the geeky folks will just end up making Tamo, Hecos & Co millionaires; not to mention the Andover.bet executives who're really going to roll in dough soon. Courtesy of your average Slashdot visitor - not only as investors but as de facto makers of this site as well. I hope the guys' first post-IPO job will be to migrate all operations to the dot.com domain (pay the current holder the millions needed), the second job ought to be handing over the dot.org domain to new "maintainers" who're in it for the cause and idea, not big bucks. For me Slashdot was about a new genre in _journalism_. Good journalists simply aren't running after IPO riches.

Gates must be laughing in his castle watching the backbone community of geeks self-destruct for a few million dollars. You can't buy respect, you can only sell what you got, once.

IMPORTANT

[drwiii]

People who put Slashdot headlines, banners, or buttons on their homepage, or submit items as stories or comments to any Andover web site, this text may be of special interest to you:

(Andover.Net's prospectus, pgs. 40-41)

Intellectual Property

Andover.Net seeks to protect its intellectual property through a combination of license agreements, service mark, copyright, trade secret laws and other methods of restricting disclosure and transferring title. We obtain the majority of our content under license agreements with publishers, through work for hire arrangements with third parties and from internal staff development. We have no patents or patents pending for our current online services and do not anticipate that patents will become a significant part of our intellectual property in the foreseeable future. Where appropriate, we also enter into confidentiality agreements with our employees, consultants, vendors and customers. We generally seek to control access to and distribution of our technology, documentation and other proprietary information. We pursue the registration of our trademarks in the United States and internationally, and have submitted trademark registration applications for our Andover.net, Slashdot.org and Freshmeat.net trademarks. Content created or acquired by us is protected by copyright. The proprietary software that we use to run our business is protected generally by restricting third party access, entering into confidentiality agreements with third parties who do have access and relying on copyright law.

Saw it coming

[drwiii]

With venture capitalists investing $10 million in them recently, Andover had better find a way to rake in the dough.

That raises an interesting point.. Since Slashdot is a key selling point for them in this, you'll probably be forced to give up some creative control. It just won't fly in corporate-land if your main selling point can be taken elsewhere by a single person at a moment's notice. Then again, with the chunk of dough you'll be getting out of this, maybe creative control won't be an issue for you anymore. I don't know.

I've been watching Andover for awhile now, even moreso since they started their whole "Linux campaign". Their sole agenda seems to be advertising. With the way banner ads are going lately, I sure do hope they plan to branch out into other areas.

One possibilty to watch for is subscription print publication.. (Slashdot Magazine, anyone?) I just can't see a model centered solely on banner ads working for a media company. It may work for the porn industry, but there has to be something more there. What would really be neat is if they'd team up with Walnut Creek CDROM and sell subscriptions to weekly or monthly CDs of Freshmeat-featured Unix applications.

Oh well. Might be something to throw a few grand at. We'll see.

Stock symbol "FSCK", anyone?

Re:Saw it coming

[Stephen Williams]

How can a ".org" do an IPO?

No .org is doing an IPO. Andover.net are the guys who are wanting to float. The fact that they own a .org doesn't figure in it.

ISTR that there was a debate on Slashdot's .org status when it was first sold to Andover.

Huh?

[Jon Abbott]

Did anyone else notice that it said they'd be using the "proprietary OpenIPO system"? Doesn't that sound kind of contradictory?

-- Does Rain Man use the Autistic License for his software?

Do the same thing as redhat

[Jeff Knox]

Hey, Give us slashdot readers the opportunity to buy stocks before anyone else. Exspecially those of us who have been reading since before slashdot, the good ol days of Chips And Dip. Jeff Knox

Re:Do the same thing as redhat

[Pascal Q. Porcupine]

I'd personally rather that those of us with higher karma get preference... ;)
---
"'Is not a quine' is not a quine" is a quine.

Re:A quiet SlashDot?

[Piers Cawley]

IANAL, but I wonder what's going to happen about moderation in this thread and how it relates to the 'Quiet Period'?

Certainly if Rob (or anyone at Andover.net) were to comment, or moderate in this then ISTM that they might be deemed to be in breach of the 'Quiet Period'. The question is, if someone who is not associated with Andover.net, but who was selected to have some level of editorial control by a program that was written by an employee of Andover.net, what happens?

Personally, I'm not sure I want to go there...

The glue?

[Jon Peterson]

Umm, I like /. and fm, but they are neither of them significant parts of the glue that holds the Linux community together.

The Linux community was doing _just fine_ prior to either of these sites - you're forgetting just how recent /. is :-)

They are both good sites, but they are not important to any definable community (OpenSource, Linux, FreeBSD, Internet, Techy).

kernel.org might be important glue - certainly some of the mailing lists are important glue - but /. and fm are simply notification sites - they help distribute important stuff, but they are neither hard to replicate if they fail, or vital links in the chain.

Re:The glue?

[Wah]

Maybe not the glue, but certainly some fuel for the fire. If Linux is ever to move beyond "the people who really know computers" it needs a way to reach that general populace. /. in particular is very good at portraying the depth of the community and its virtues. Yea you do get the ACs and flames in general, but one of the beauties of this place is that they *always* get moderated down, and the people who send them get called out.
With my current settings (highest first, nested) I rarely see the nastiness or even much cursing, especially if I wait for the article to get about halfway down the front page and the dust to settle.

I think Andover is a good buy, and they will most definitely be able to throw better parties now. My guess is that after this goes off, taco, hemos, and the gang will have a whole lot of 0s after that net worth column. Linux is hot, a lot of people are looking for the next "Big Thing", and the stock market is still strong (at least until Halloween...).

My fear is that at one of the shareholder meetings it will come up that this is an ad driven site and there's only one ad per page, go check Yahoo and count how many you see. Personally that's why I don't go there (or it's ilk), but that's why they are in the black.

So while /. may not be the glue, it certainly sucks in a lot of new blood, myself included.

Interesting Info on Andover

[Jon Peterson]

Please check out:

http://www.mtdc.com/press004.html

In particular:

Bruce Twickler, President of Andover, noted, "The acquisition, repurposing and commercialization of content is an extraordinary opportunity for growth. Our proprietary database-driven site creation tools, data collection tools, web tracking and reporting systems, and other technologies allow us to get to a breakeven point on a new site quickly."

Sounds like a man after Rupert Murdoch's heart, to me.

Karma entry in hof

[Tet]

I'd personally rather that those of us with higher karma get preference... ;)

I agree, although it's worth remembering the Andover doesn't have the huge media frenzy that accompanied the Red Hat IPO, so it's likely to be a little more restrained.

Anyway, while not wanting to start a "my karma's higher than yours" flamefest, how about a "users with highest karma" hall of fame entry, Rob?

Who currently owns Andover?

[Tet]

What were the terms of the acquisitions of /. and fm? Were they bought outright for cash, or was it a cash and shares deal, leaving CmdrTaco, Hemos and Scoop with shares in Andover? If so, I hope you guys make a fortune out of it.

However, someone else raised a valid point. If traffic decreases, will changes be forced upon you to try and increase readership? I believe there's enough integrity there to try and fight such a move, but at the end of the day, you may not have much choice. One of the perils of beign publically traded is that the company is legally bound to maximise shareholder value, whatever the ethics of doing so. Hopefully, it'll never come to that, but you never know...

Stockholder benefits

[tgd]

So, if we're a stockholder, will anyone listen when we say "Quit posting stories that were posted two weeks ago!"?

;)

Seriously though, I think Andover should do like RedHat and give back to the community. How about a free share to the people with the lowest slashdot ID numbers? How about everyone 2822 and before? Yeah, that's good by me. :)

Seriously more, though, its good to see the /. people really getting a return on the work they do. I hope (as the other posts mentioned) that this doesn't leave slashdot open for raping the way dejanews went, went the marketroids got their hands on it. Dejanews was ruined by them, and I'd hate to see Slashdot have the same thing happen.

Re:DejaNews was "ruined"?

[tgd]

Nah, like many sites, they added all their marketing crap and made it significantly more difficult to use with Lynx.

A quiet SlashDot?

[ed_the_unready]

SlashDot in a 'quiet period'... the mind boggles.
---------------------
Most Annoying /. Comment Ever:
"If I use Red$at Gnulix to make a Beowulf,

Huh?

[kuro5hin]

Please don't say you're a mutual fund manager.

Seriously, I love /. and freshmeat, but no way is this a better investment than RedHat. Where's the revenue stream? Banner ads? I'd agree that Andover is a better investment than most '.com' IPO's, because I know that their sites are quality products and have a strong following. But at this point, web IPO's are still matters of faith. Investing in one means that either:

A) You believe that sooner or later, someone will come up with a workable business model for website profitability, or
B) You believe that the stock will be hot because the majority of investors are idiotic sheep, and you intend to buy low, and sell high, quickly.

Now neither of these is a bad thing in itself, but given the web IPO market lately, choice B is no longer a guaranteed path to riches, and choice A still relies on your believing that foo.com will still be around when someone figures out how to make money with "new media." On that score, I'd say Andover's a better bet than most, but I don't think I'd drop my cash here.

And given the choice between Redhat at 12 and Andover at 12, I'd take RH in a heartbeat. And YES I was one of the few who said that RH was a very strong buy before the IPO, and subsequent skyrocketing. I kept telling my coworkers to buy, even when it was at 60 in the first couple weeks. Wish I had had some money to buy it myself. :-)

Anyway, best of luck to Andover, and the /.-FM crew!

----
We all take pink lemonade for granted.

Re:So what happens now?

[chromatic]

What happens if traffic on Slashdot decreases? Will shareholders insist on a format change to drive ad impressions up? If stock price plummets, shareholders will eventually hold the company accountable. I do not see any way to avoid ramifications to /. itself.

I'd say that depends on how much of the stock goes on the block, and how many shares are kept... um... over there. *pointing to Andover*

RedHat only sold a small percentage of the total shares. That does two things -- it makes the pre-IPO owners fantastically rich, on paper, and it keeps them in charge of the company. Even if you can get all of the public shareholders to agree on something, the influence there may be 10% of the total voting shares. Or less.

Don't be surprised if Andover does the same thing. If there's a money crunch, they can always sell off some of the extra stock for more capital.

Maybe they should start a consulting business for sites using the Slash code... hmm... or the Freshmeat code, if people prefer PHP....

--
QDMerge 0.21!

Good luck

[cartographer]

I really support this IPO system. By having everyone bid up the shares *before* they go to market, the offering company gets the benefits of all the speculation (or the lack of funds for a poorly timed or low value IPO). It will be interesting to watch this offering, since it doesn't present the same opportunity for ridiculous first-few-day gains that RedHat did.

Good luck.

Uh-oh!

[um... Lucas]

Repeat after me: THIS IS NOT FLAMEBAIT OR TROLL MATERIAL! :)

Thanks, now I'll continue.

As much as I can see how beneficial this will be to Rob, the rest of the slashdot crew, and even slashdot's availability as a site (I hope for the day that slashdot is no longer slashdotted :), I wonder if it will benefit Slashdot on a deeper level. Truthfully, I can't see how it possibly can.

Aside from bigger servers, fatter pipes, and maybe more people reading submissions in search of articles to post, what will it bring to Slashdot? As far as I figure it will only serve to bring more accountability to the /. culture.

What happens when a comment is posted that speaks negatvely of Andover?
Going further, what happens when (if) rumors start flying about Andover's future. Naturally, /.'ers would want to discuss it, but will we run the risk of not having the stories posted in the first place?

I've already noticed a lack of critical articles and comments about Redhat, especially since the IPO. Prior to that, there were fears that they were attempting to dominate the Linux market and/or fragment it to their advantage (remember the fuss about Codewarrior for Redhat Linux?). Nowadays? Everything's good and well in Redhat land. Fewer and fewer articles and posts question them. Is this at all because Slashdot and more than a few readers are lovestruck by the company they now own a piece of? Maybe. Maybe not.

And what happens when shareholders expect to see revenue from /.? Will there be a change in privacy policies? I guess that's another wait and see. By the way, you can not tell shareholders you won't change your policies simply because that's how you want to do it, as many people think Redhat can and will do once shareholders start asking for more substantial profits.

It also struck me as kind of funny that /. was mentioned as being an "unbiased" news site for the Linux community in Andovers press-release. Did/does this strike anyone else as being not ocmpletely true? When has there been a positive MSFT story posted? When has someone said something nice about MSFT without being shot down in flames?

So what now? Will we be bombarded with banners at the top of every page as well as after ever xxx comments, just to be sure to maximize exposures? Will /. accept payment to post articles about xyz companies new product or strategy? Will we face geocities like pop-up ads? How about open-source related spam? Will our comments be analzyed in order to figure out exactly what offers we'd like to recieve?

One plus: maybe /. will finally get an extra server that they can dedicate to email for registered users... dibs on "lucas@slashdot.org" ! :)

(It's a shame... I moderated two posts on this story, and now my points are gone! :( ... I hope someone else highlights them...)

No Comment

[jabber]

I don't think I can handle several weeks of "No Comment" stories... Although, hearing nothing but that from JonKatz would be very refreshing.

---

Me: Rob! I think we should have MetaMetaModeration for those people who unfairly MetaModerate posts...
Rob: No Comment.

Me: Hemos, I have devised a way to build miniature construction equipment from individual atoms.
Hemos: [gasp!] No Comment!

Me: Jon, I didn't like highschool. [snif]
Katz: err... ungh... erp.. NO COMMENT!!! [head explodes]

Ok, Rob, here's what you do:

[grappler]

Leak stuff to us by posting as an AC and moderating the post to level 5. Nobody can prove it's you.

Re:How will they make money? Banner adds?

[Cacophony]

Why can't banner adds make *real* revenue for Andover. Look at Yahoo, they're huge now and how do they make there money...banner adds.

Besides look at Slashdot, it's an advertisers dream... a bunch of loaded techies who'll buy any gadget you stick in front of them, on a page with 500,000+ hits per day. People pay big money for that kinda exposure on there product.

-Al-

Re:Boy - you guys were a cheap date

[Fizgig]

Go to freeedgar.com. It has all the SEC filings (which, as a company filing to go public, they have to have). Then search for ANDOVER NET. It has their S1, which is the form you have to file with the SEC stating your intent to go public.

Re:Could have been the slashdot IPO...

[ivan_13013]

Actually, I don't think they sold BSI. IIRC they just sold Slashdot.org and in fact are investing some of their newfound riches into BSI on the side.

Dutch Auction??? Oh no.

[Evro]

Salon did the Dutch Auction / OpenIPO thing and their IPO was a rather dismal failure. Then again, they're not as big as Slashdot, and nowhere near as big as Andover, so maybe they will have better results.

What does slashdot "own" ....

[LL]

After the fracas with Yahoo's takeover of GeoCities, I think I would not be alone in expressing some concern as to the "ownership" of all the submitted content of slashdot. I have previously submitted personal observations on the assumption that slashdot was a private forum and not a public newspaper where libel and/or copyright issues can arise. While I think people are generally reasonable and don't object to profit-making ventures (e.g. I can see scope for a yearly compilation of the best stories/comments from slashdot ... let's call it "Voices from the Source" :-)) it does raise the tricky issue of the readers also being the contributors and thus technically copyright owners of their own words.

I think least there be a major misunderstanding along the lines of Yahoo/GeoCities, I would appreciate some assurance or indication of the separation between roles of the various key stakeholders.

LL

Re:What does slashdot "own" ....

[cmg]

read the bottom of every comment page.

All trademarks and copyrights on this page are owned by their respective owners. Comments are owned by the Poster. The Rest © 1997-99 Andover.Net.

Re:What does slashdot "own" ....

[The Ancient Geek]

Good question. And a question that, in the early days of online communities, caused a lot of debate and legal wrangling.

If you post something on an electronic bulletin board (be it an old-style BBS, SlashDot, or a private fee-paid system like CompuServe) you can be held liable for anything you say. So, for example, if you were to state that IBM was secretly funding the development of Little Black Helicopters for future use by U.N. shock troops, you just might hear from IBM's lawyers. (This isn't as big a deal as it sounds--in general a question cannot be libelous, so nobody can touch you if you post a message asking, "has anybody else heard rumors to the effect that IBM is secretly funding Little Black Helicopters...?" Just remember to use the question mark.)

As to the question of who owns the copyright on what you have written: this gets complicated. There generally is not a single entity that has a "copyright" on any published work. If you write a book and get it published you own the copyright (with some exceptions we'll ignore). But the publisher also has rights to the work--the publisher contributed to the work by paying editors and proofreaders, typesetters and designers, and may have paid for indexing, illustration, or photography. You own the words, but you probably do not have absolute ownership of the entire work. (About the only time you do have absolute ownership of the work is when you "publish" through a "vanity press," where you pay all the print and production costs up front.)

Similarly, SlashDot has rights to the collection of opinions expressed here. SlashDot's original contribution is the creation of software and the maintenance of hardware that permit (even encourage) the expression of ideas posted here. That, the courts have ruled, is enough to give SlashDot some rights to the aggregate collection of text that we all read. (If that sounds confusing, think of it like this: if you're thunderstruck by this comment and quote it in a research paper, you would cite me as the author, and SlashDot as the publisher.)

There is another angle to this: suppose somebody posts a comment here that is legally actionable. Can SlashDot and Andover.net be held liable for libelous (or seditious) posts that appear here.

There have been two views on this subject. The first, and the view that has prevailed in the courts, is that software-driven forums, like CompuServe (who fought all these battles in the 1980s) cannot reasonably edit messages before they appear. The volume of messages is too great, and the format of the service is such that it is obvious to any user than content is originated by specific people, not by the service provider (CompuServe). The courts (rightly) viewed CompuServe (and later AOL) as equivalent to a magazine distributor--even if the distributor carries an issue of Hustler that is later deemed to be pornographic, the distributor is free from liability. It is unreasonable to expect a magazine distributor to read every magazine in advance of placing orders--that isn't how the magazine business works. In the same way, when IBM's lawyers come looking to sue your sorry buns for those comments you made about Little Black Helicopters they will not have a claim against Rob, SlashDot, or Andover.net.

Digression:

An interesting question that has not been litigated is this: whose laws apply to content you read on SlashDot? Back in 1993 Corel bought Ventura Software from Xerox (Ventura developed Ventura Publisher, then the dominant DTP package on PCs). Ventura had a forum on CompuServe, led by a staff of volunteer sysops. Corel added a paid staffer to the sysop list. The actual physical location of the hardware was in Columbus, Ohio. All but one of the staffers lived in the United States (I was living in Japan then). But Corel is located in Ottawa, Ontario--in Canada. The legal construction is that CompuServe was the distributor, forum members were the authors, but Corel (the owner of the forum contract) was the publisher.

There was a gory murder trial in Ontario, and the judge issued a gag order prohibiting publishers from publishing anything about the trial. Canadian newspapers don't have a First Amendment to protect them, so they didn't publish a word. But the judge also required Canadian authorities to seize any newspapers or magazines coming into the country that made reference to the trial. The NY Times and Newsweek both ran articles on the trial to test this, and both publications were seized at the border and destroyed.

So, we wondered, what would happen if we discussed this on CompuServe? If I, in Japan, posted a message to user in the U.K., using hardware and software in Ohio--would the Corel staff guy in Ontario go to jail?

In less than an hour I got an email from Corel's staff attorney: "let's not find out."

Quiet Periods

[schporto]

So does this mean there will not be any changes to Slashdot for a while? It tend to be that when there is a change its put forth as an improvement. This could be seen as a "promotion of the company". And that AFAIK is against the quiet period rules. I just wonder if it means that Rob will have to be extremely careful in his wording about changes. I.e. "I implemented the new moderation system today. Things are different. I am not allowed to say wether they are better or worse on the advice of my lawyers and due to the possibility of future litigation....." Yeesh that could get ugly.
-cpd

So what happens now?

[meersan]

It is with feelings of profound ambivalence that I read the press release....

Slashdot has been my #1 favorite site for years now, and the character of its free-wheeling conversation and deep-think geek info has been the greatest part of it. I was happy for Rob and Jeff when /. was acquired, because I appreciate the cost and effort that goes into running this crazy place.

But with the dust yet to settle on the legal aspect of the net, I have to question whether it will have an effect on the /. I know and love. From the perspective of Andover, no doubt, an IPO will be heaven-sent, a greatly needed infusion of cash.

What happens if traffic on Slashdot decreases? Will shareholders insist on a format change to drive ad impressions up?

If stock price plummets, shareholders will eventually hold the company accountable. I do not see any way to avoid ramifications to /. itself.

Moreover, neo-fascistic legislation has yet to run its course on the net. What happens when a 12 year-old's mother sees him reading Anonymous Coward flame-drivel, and sues Andover for child endangerment? (Could this bring even more moderation changes?)

In the end, though, I wish Andover the best. And I hope that when all is said and done, /. will retain the qualities that made it great.

ANDN vs RHAT

[ColPanek]

Where's the revenue stream? Banner ads?

[snip]

And given the choice between Redhat at 12 and Andover at 12, I'd take RH in a heartbeat.

Let's do some math here. Assume for the sake of argument that all andover.net's current revenue is from banner ads (they also expect some from software, according to the prospectus). andover.net says the sites they own currently get 40 million page views a month. Last I read, banner ad space generally was going for $20-60 CPM (cost per 1,000 page views) industrywide, as much as $100 CPM for specialty sites. Slashdot, freshmeat etc have GREAT demographics -- folks who'd run out and buy the Single-Person Air Scooter before we got to the seventh First Post on the subject. So I may be conservative in guessing they charge $50 CPM, but for the sake of argument:

$50 CPM at 40 million pageviews/month equals $2 million revenue/month or $24 million/year.

By comparison, Red Hat reported revenue of $10 million for the year ended 2/28/99.

Now in reality, andover.net reports $1.1 million revenue for the nine months ending June 30, all of it from advertising, and figures that will actually come to $1.6 million (including $215,000 for software) once the acquisitions of /. and The Animation Factory are factored in. But when was /. acquired? IOW, if we deduce that /. adds $300,000 to andover.net's bottom line for the 9 months ended June 30 and all of it in ad revenues, is that 5 day's worth of ads, a month's, or what? And the balance sheet doesn't seem to factor in FM at all.

I haven't looked much at the expense side of the picture yet but I'd think Red Hat would incur far greater R&D and tech support costs than andover.net. Although who knows what it might cost to get us to truly flawless MetaMetaMetaMetaMetaModeration? ;-)

So much for the quiet period

[smart2000]

The SEC does not mandate a quiet period for IPOs. What the regulations require is that the company not make any effort to promote the company other than the offering itself. Also a company must keep track of all the material it used for promotion.

In the world of the internet frenzy and the legal vultures, a lot of interesting theories have been offered, mostly because the SEC hasn't made regulation on these issues. Its generally the underwriter that enforces the "quiet period", in an effort to avoid any flaps with the SEC.

Generally, the undewriter laywers will tell you that sites that have conversation boards generally can't use them to promote the offering. Does HQ know what it going on here? I wouldn't be suprised if they shut this thread down.

Also, it's possible that the entire thread could end up in court one day in a shareholder lawsuit. Oh what fun.

I'm also interested in seeing what happens with OpenIPO. Because of the dutch auctions, the IPO is not likely to see ANY first day gains, which may be pasted in the the media as a "linux failure", since they tend not to be familiar with the OpenIPO approach

Will slashdot remain opensource? Will they start beating up anyone who makes a parody site? What about sites that have the same "trade-dress", due to use of the open source? Stock for people with high karma? Oh this is going to be fun.

Andover.net == Linux/Opensource Hub?

[|DaBuzz|]

Doesn't anderover.net also do sites such as Davecentral, Internet Traffic Report, and Slaughter House? Of the 11 anderover.net "holdings", 3 are Linux/Open Source, yet the press release makes them seem like Linux/Open Source is all they do. A bit misleading if you ask me.

I understand they're trying to work off the RHAT Linux buzz to boost their IPO price but it's still an inaccurate characterization of the company as a whole.

Boy - you guys were a cheap date

[kerskine]

From the S1

Acquisition of Slashdot.org. In June 1999, we acquired certain assets and
assumed certain liabilities relating to the Slashdot.org web site from
BlockStackers, Inc. for consideration consisting of a $1.5 million cash payment
made at the closing, and contingent payments of $2.0 million of stock valued at
the initial public offering price issuable upon the closing of this offering, up
to $3.5 million in cash and up to $5.0 million in stock valued at the initial
public offering price and payable during the two years following this offering.
The amount of cash and stock consideration that is contingent solely on the
continued employment of the principals of Slashdot.org in the amount of $6.3
million will be recorded as a compensation charge ratably over the period of the
payments. The amount of stock consideration that is contingent on the
achievement of performance milestones and the continued employment of the
principals of Slashdot.org will be recognized upon the achievement of these
milestones. To the extent any stock consideration is issued, we will record a
non-cash compensation charge based on the fair value of the shares issued at
such time.

A real company to invest in....

[8ballcane]

I have to say that I feel safer putting money into Andover than Redhat. Andover owns two parts of the glue that holds the Linux community together, and, barring any screwups, can forge into new paths using the money. They seem to have a good collective head on their shoulders, and I wait to see what will happen in the months ahead.

Initial shares...

[bvmcg]

Just as Redhat let some of the best open source contributors in at the opening price via etrade, I say take the top n karma holders and... ;)

Re: .orgs and commerce

[jeckman]

It seems to me the distinction between .org and .com and .net went out the window long ago.

InterNIC, in Network Solutions clothing, has been encouraging everyone to register their names in .com, .net. and .org for some time now.

Their "help" text says, about .org:

The top level domain designated for miscellaneous entities that do not fit under any of the other top level domains. Typically used for non-profit organizations. One of the worldwide top level domains.

Note that .org is only typically used for non-profits, and is really just a kind of miscellaneous category.

Then, if you use their handy-dandy Register a Web Address form, they suggest:

Secure your name in all 3 extensions (.com, .net, .org) to protect your Internet identity. Just click the box next to each additional Web Address you wish to secure.

Of course networksolutions is the spawn of Satan, but that's what people see- so why would it matter if a .org files for an ipo?

How will they make money? Banner adds?

[cs668]

I love both freshmeat and SlashDot and use them everyday!

But, how will this translate into $$ and make for a meaningfull IPO. I can't imagine selling banner adds alone will be a real revenue stream for Andover. What else do they do?

you'll never be rich, you son of a ....

[jsm2]

Yeah, that would be cool. However, the OpenIPO process is a Dutch auction, meaning that you shouldn't expect a crazy post-IPO runup, because the thing will have been priced correctly in the first place. Think Salon.com rather than RedHat.

Basically, the Dutch auction mechanism is the most efficient way to conduct IPOs, but it does have the effect that CmdrTaco, Mr. Andover et al. will be the ones making the mad phat crazy Benjamins, rather than the people buying into it.

you'll never be rich . . .

jsm

This will not change Slashdot

[SomeoneElse]

I don't believe this will change Slashdot regardless of what happens with Andover's stock. If Slashdot were ordered to cater to a different crowd or change WHATEVER in order to boost revenue many of us who frequent this site would leave in droves. It would cease to be the community builder Slashdot is. Andover knows this, that is why they purchased this site and agreed not to change it except to rake in the banner ads. They know that if they force some mandatory changes on Slashdot, the community built up around it will go elsewhere. So take heart people and don't worry, I predict that regardless of the stock, Slashdot will not have any mandatory changes made to its content in any way.

Just my .02