World Online_s worries did not end when its much-hyped IPO tanked last week. Now that the Dutch Internet service provider_s share price has plummeted to the point that the company has lost nearly half of its value, bankers and regulatory agencies are
Published:
2 April 2000 y., Sunday
The troubled company_s CEO, Nina Brink, sold off two-thirds of her shares in December, just prior to the mid-March public offering. She did so by transferring the shares to an investment house, which dumped 1.2 million shares on the market in the first day of trading. Speaking with the international press before the offering, Brink had promised that her shares would not be sold.
The Amsterdam Exchanges, where the float took place, has said that it will look more closely at World Online_s IPO filings, but that it sees no reason to launch a full-blown inquiry.
Despite that vote of relative confidence, negative publicity has snowballed. The Amsterdam media has discovered a reliable source of headlines: employees who had invested in the company and then, on paper at least, lost a fortune.
The company had allowed each of its 1,500 employees to take out an interest-free loan, reportedly equivalent to their annual salary, to purchase shares in the ISP. Employees borrowed a total of nearly 22 million euros ($21 million) to buy some 500,000 shares.
Copying, publishing, announcing any information from the News.lt portal without written permission of News.lt editorial office is prohibited.
The most popular articles
The EU needs a strategy by 2011 to encourage the creation of green jobs, says a draft resolution by the Employment and Social Affairs Committee that was adopted on Wednesday.
more »
Householders should not have to go without gas due to a gas-supply crisis, and such crises should be better managed, thanks to EU-wide co-ordination procedures and interconnection requirements laid down in draft legislation agreed informally with the Council at the end of June and approved by the Industry Committee on Tuesday.
more »
Today the Council has taken the formal decision which will pave the way for the introduction of the euro in Estonia as of 1 January 2011 and will become the 17th European Union country to share the euro currency.
more »
Proposals to improve protection for bank account holders and retail investors, and set up similar schemes for insurance policies.
more »
How should the EU's farm policy be reshaped and how should it be funded after 2013?
more »
MEPs on Wednesday approved some of the strictest rules in the world on bankers' bonuses.
more »
Long before the financial crisis the European Parliament regularly pointed out the significant failures in the EU’s supervision of ever more integrated financial markets.
more »
New strategy for stimulating tourism in Europe – to realise the full potential of an industry that already plays an important role in the economy.
more »
The European Commission has disclosed who in 2009 received EU funds in policy areas like research, education and culture, energy and transport or external aid.
more »
The European Commission has approved 19 programmes in 14 Member States (Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, France, Greece, Italy, Ireland, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovenia, Spain and the United Kingdom) to provide information on and to promote agricultural products in the European Union.
more »