Year in review: Road to recovery

It's been a long dry spell for initial public offerings since the go-go days of early 2000. But two highly anticipated stock market launches gave investors something to get excited about this year.

Amid much hoopla and controversy, search giant Google and applications service provider Salesforce.com entered the public markets. The Internet business IPOs were two of the 220 stock debuts listed this year--a marked improvement on the 86 racked up last year, but still short of the 300-plus launches in 2000.

"The first half of 2003 was the period where we bottomed out, and we've been working our way out since," said Richard Peterson, an IPO analyst with Thomson Financial.

During the year, 48 technology debuts hit markets--up from a mere 24 in 2003, according to Peterson. As a group, technology IPOs raised $10.7 billion in capital in last year, compared with $3.3 billion the previous year.

The year got off on a high note when Opera, a Norway-based browser maker, announced its IPO in February, taking advantage of a more receptive mood among tech investors.

Salesforce.com also took advantage of the climate to go public. However, the subscription-based seller of customer relationship management software encountered much controversy and many delays on the way to its debut in late June.

The San Francisco company, which raised $85 million in its offering, had to restate its financial results to provide investors with a more relevant historical comparison of accounts. It also delayed its debut after its chief executive was prominently featured in a New York Times article prior to its IPO, in order to create a "cooling off period" that would let the market digest the information.

Google also encountered controversy during its IPO process. The popular Internet search company was closely watched by industry observers and investors, many of whom were eager to participate in the long-awaited public launch.

Google's founders pushed for an unusual auction-style stock offering, in which a range of investors, from institutional investors to the general public, could put in a bid for some of the $2.7 billion in shares. That IPO format broke from the more traditional method, in which underwriters allot a certain number of shares to a select group of institutional investors, such pension funds and mutual funds.

Google's offering faced other scrutiny, which was followed initially by weaker-than-expected demand for shares before the IPO. Ultimately, the company performed well in its August debut, with its shares rising by a respectable margin.

--Dawn Kawamoto