NetSuite Inc., the online business-software developer, announced on July 2 its plans for an initial public offering.
In filing its prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Commission, San Mateo, CA-based NetSuite said it plans to raise up to $75 million, but doesn’t say how many shares it will offer or at what price. It is expected to sell approximately 10 percent of its common stock.
Larry Ellison, the founder and chief executive of Oracle, controls 74 percent of NetSuite common stock, according to the company’s S-1 filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. In 1998, Ellison co-founded NetSuite with Evan Goldberg, the former vice president of Oracle.
On demand software has become an attractive target for investors, largely due to the success of Salesforce.com, whose shares have quadrupled since its IPO three years ago to a total market capitalization of almost $5 billion.
NetSuite was founded about four months before Salesforce, but has yet to turn a profit. It reported a loss of $23.4 million last year and has an accumulated deficit of $193 million.
Other on-demand players that have gone public are Taleo in 2005 and RightNow in 2004.
NetSuite sells software used by some 5,300 small and medium-sized businesses to run their companies, handling tasks from accounting and payroll to running Web stores, Internet marketing and sales force automation.
NetSuite’s other chief rivals include Epicor Software, Intui, Microsoft, SAP and Sage Group.
According to NetSuite’s preliminary prospectus with the SEC, Credit Suisse and WR Hambrecht are underwriters for the IPO.
