Lindows postpones public offering

by Guest Contributor | Aug 19, 2004 1:51:00 PM

Takeaway: CEO Michael Robertson says the Linux company "won't be forced into a cut-rate IPO."

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By Margaret Kane
Staff Writer, CNET News.com

Linux software maker Lindows postponed its public offering this week, citing "current adverse market conditions."

The company's move, announced Wednesday, comes amid intense media scrutiny of the IPO of search engine Google, which is debuting Thursday.

Earlier this month, Lindows cut its planned offering price for the second time. Most recently, the company had expected to price its shares at between $5 and $7 each. Originally, Lindows had set a range of $9 to $11 for 4.4 million shares.

"Lindows won't be forced into a cut-rate IPO by a fickle stock market," CEO Michael Robertson said in a press release. "We are fortunate to have cash in the bank, and we owe it to our stockholders to wait until market conditions and public company valuations improve before we proceed with a public offering."

Lindows will soon change its name to Linspire, as part of a settlement of a dispute with Microsoft, which had argued that the name infringed on its Windows trademark. Lindows makes a version of the open-source operating system Linux that is supposed to look similar to Microsoft's Windows operating system.

Lindows isn't the only company that's been spooked by the IPO market lately; online-dating company MatchNet last week pulled its plans to sell shares to the public, as did adware company Claria.

Lindows said it will continue to evaluate market conditions and may go public sometime in the future.

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