Though there had been fears that the IPO would suffer after it had to be delayed after CEO Marc Benioff gave an interview to the New York Times during the company’s quiet period, there was huge enthusiasm for the hosted CRM vendor which was able to shovel more than $100m into its corporate coffers.
With a closing share price of $17.20, Salesforce.com had a market value of $1.74bn. Market leader Siebel Systems Inc has suffered in comparison with the rising star of the sector, is only worth $5.5bn.
Though some analysts felt that CRM was now insufficiently exciting for Salesforce.com to garner much stock market enthusiasm, the reaction to its stock market debut is likely to put new life into the IPO market.
Last week, educational software developer Blackboard Inc recorded a gain of more than 40% in its share price on the first day of trading and there is clearly now strong enthusiasm for the technology sector.
When Salesforce.com began the IPO process back in April, the price range was $7.50 to $8.50 and the enforced delay has probably benefited the company, as its was able to take advantage of growing optimism for the sector.
