Buy.com raises $182 million in IPO

Indicating strong demand, the online superstore sold 14 million shares at $13 per share, above its preliminary price range of $10 to $12 per share. The Aliso Viejo, Calif.-based company will begin trading tomorrow on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol "BUYX."

Buy.com will see about $169 million from the stock sale after fees and expenses, according to Hambrecht & Quist, which led the public offering.

The company's IPO is the culmination of a long waiting period for Buy.com, which first began wooing investment bankers to take the company public last spring. During the company's mandatory quiet period, it has repeatedly added or planned new categories such as music, golf and travel. It has also gone through a management upheaval.

During the fourth quarter, Buy.com lost $49.6 million on $200.7 million in revenues. For the year, the company lost $130.1 million on $596.8 million in revenues.

Buy.com has been operating on negative profit margins for both the quarter and the year. During the fourth quarter, Buy.com's goods and services cost it $1.6 million more than it charged consumers for those goods and services. For all of 1999, Buy.com lost $6.7 million on its sales.

Buy.com founder Scot Blum, who owned 53.9 percent of the company before the stock offering, will have a 48.1 percent stake in the company after the IPO. Softbank will see its stake decrease from 33.3 percent of the company to 29.7 percent.

Formerly the company's chairman and chief executive, Blum has since resigned from both positions and from Buy.com's board of directors.