EMachines Files for $200m IPO

Computergram International, Sept 1, 1999

Discount PC vendor eMachines Inc filed a preliminary registration statement Tuesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission for an initial public offering of common stock worth up to $200m. The number of shares to be sold and an offering price have yet to be determined. No expected pricing date was given either.

The company also announced Tuesday that it recently completed a private placement of roughly $119.5m worth of preferred stock. Strategic investors in the round included America Online Inc and Hikari Tsushin Inc, while financial investors included Technology Crossover Ventures, among others. Credit Suisse First Boston Corp acted as sole placement agent for the financing.

According to the IPO filing, the Irvine, California-based company has 50 employees and showed a 1998 net loss of $2.8m on revenue of $58.3m. But the company was only founded in September of last year and began selling its eTower desktop PCs for $399 to $599 in November. The company cites numbers from PC Data Corp that show it sold the third-highest number of PCs through US retailers in June. In July, eMachines claims to have shipped its one-millionth eTower.

The IPO will be handled by an underwriting group managed by Credit Suisse First Boston Corp and co-managed by BancBoston Robertson Stephens, Hambrecht & Quist and Salomon Smith Barney. The shares are expected to trade on the Nasdaq market under the ticker symbol EEEE.