Wired Ventures Inc has become decidedly unwired after pulling its initial public offering late last week – no doubt it took one look at Proposition 211 and decided discretion was the the better part of valour – and it is now likely to undergo a big restructuring. Before it was withdrawn, the offering had been reduced to 3 million shares from 4.75m and the target price slashed to $8 to $10 a share from $12 to $14, at which it was still regarded as overpriced as reality begins to dawn over Internet-related issues. Analysts now expect the company to reshuffle its HotWired Web site unit, perhaps sharply reducing its staffing, which they said has swelled to be among the biggest for an Internet publisher – HotWired is deadweight, from a business perspective, said one analyst, who said that the company might have been more successfully priced had it spun off as purely a magazine.
