There’s a lot of speculation about how Skype‘s initial public offering (IPO) will affect both the company’s services and the stock market, but according to Reuters BreakingViews on The New York Times, the IPO could actually provide a much-needed boost to Silicon Valley.
Robert Cyran and Christopher Swann write that excitement over the Internet telephone company’s public offering could help heat up what has otherwise been a lukewarm year for tech offerings. Bottom line: that could mean that entrepreneurs looking for help getting their ideas off the ground could be the unexpected beneficiaries of Skype going public.
Skype, founded in 2003 by a pair of Scandinavian entrepreneurs (a Swede and a Dane) has a whopping 560 million registered users with more on the way. It grossed $86 million in the first six months of the year and is in the black. And, while the company could be worth more than $5 billion, only $100 million of stock is being made available. If that low supply is met with high demand, that means the stock price could soar, adding further value to the company.
If Skype’s IPO is successful, more tech companies like Facebook, Zynga and Yelp could be enticed to make initial public offerings, which could really add some momentum to an otherwise sluggish Silicon Valley. And that, could help the economy.
Skype logo via Wikimedia Commons.