California-Based Online Grocery Firm Talks Itself Out of IPO.

Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News, October, 1999 by Quinn, Michelle

Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

Oct. 8 -- Companies know the Golden Rule when planning to go public: Tell all, especially the bad stuff.

But companies must work within another regulation: don't get caught saying too much or hyping your business prospects. If you do, you invite the wrath of the Securities and Exchange Commission, the regulatory agency that enforces securities law.

This week, WebVan Group Inc. got caught.

The Foster City company, which takes grocery orders on the Internet and delivers them to the home, had planned to go public by today, offering 25 million shares at a price of $11 to $13 apiece. But on Thursday, the company issued a statement saying that, after receiving a lot of publicity, WebVan and the SEC had...