Finally: NetSuite IPOs
It was a long time coming, but NetSuite -- one of Larry Ellison's other companies -- launched its IPO Thursday.
It was an up-and-down debut according to this report, with shares booming nearly 40 percent before falling to less than $24 then recovering to finish at $35.50 up 36.5 percent.
Ellison made out like a bandit, natch, although he very publicly put his NetSuite shares into a "lockbox" to mitigate the appearance of a conflict of interest.
Hmmm ... Oracle fields databases and business applications into enterprises, and increasingly into SMBs as well. NetSuite uses Oracle's databases, and fields business application services into SMBs and hopefully into enterprises. Still Ellison's stance until recently seemed to be: "Conflict? What conflict?"
Now the hard part: Can NetSuite parlay its hosted ERP service into larger enterprises? Can it recruit and retain key partners? Will it entrench its SuiteFlex development environment with ISVs and other partners?
By all accounts, even NetSuite skeptics; say that the quality of the service is excellent, crediting founder Evan Goldberg's expertise. Goldberg is an Oracle refuge. NetSuite CEO Zach Nelson and several other NetSuiters also spent time in Oracle's Redwood Shores glass towers before coming aboard.
Barbara Darrow, industry editor of Redmond Magazine, Redmond Developer News and Redmond Channel Partner, can be reached at
[email protected]
Posted by Barbara Darrow on December 21, 2007