CreditCards.com Ditches IPO
Firm cites market conditions for staying private.
CreditCards.com, a credit card “super affiliate”, has yanked plans for an initial public offering.
The firm is famous in domain circles since of the value of its name. Internet Real Estate Group (a.k.a. DealJam) sold the domain name to Daniel H. Smith’s Click Success for $2.75 million in 2004. Smith pocketed a whopping $97.7 million when he sold the firm to an Austin Ventures-backed outfit two years later in 2006.
When CreditCards.com filed to go public last year, it was a boon for domain name data junkies. We learned that the firm grossed a staggering $4.64 per visitor to its site, or an RPM of $4,640. That number increased to $4.90 per visitor when the firm updated its plans in November 2007. At that time CreditCards.com increased its IPO target from $115 million to $185 million. Still, it also swung to a loss as it invested to boost revenue prior to the IPO.
Why pull the IPO? Cocktail party chatter in Austin over the past few months suggested that investors weren’t willing to pay the price the firm wanted. Despite losses through three quarters last year, the firm can be a cash cow. It’s investors are in no hurry to cash out.
