Virgin Mobile IPO
Virgin Mobile's banner outside the New York Stock Exchange last Thursday. Click to enlargeTwo days ago, Virgin Mobile (NYSE: VM) had an IPO on the New York Stock Exchange. Sir Richard Branson and crew rang the opening bell, and there were attractive women dressed as angels walking around the Exchange floor. It was quite a big deal and fun to watch, especially since Branson is just as eccentric as he is wealthy. CNBC even aired footage of him base-jumping following the opening bell.
Walking past the front of the Exchange on Broad Street later in the day, I saw the giant red banner pictured to the right; along with a big, red carpet; a stage presumably to be used for a concert in the afternoon (though, it rained, so I don't know what happened with that); and those lovely angels milling about. There was also a sound system playing the song "Maniac", which I thought was particularly appropriate for something associated with Sir Richard.
While I thought the fanfare surrounding the Virgin Mobile IPO was rather extreme for Wall Street but nonetheless entertaining, it seems Soleil Securities didn't feel the same way. In the afternoon, they initiated coverage on the Virgin stock with a "sell" rating. Ouch.
Comments
The word "Soleil" is used in so many different ways all around the world but, for me, it always makes me think of Soleil Moon Frye of Punky Brewster fame, which, at this point in my life, I am actually ashamed to say that I watched way back in the good old days of 1985. Excuse me as I go sit in the corner and sulk...not for watching Punky Brewster, mind you, but for the grammatically incorrect run-on sentence that I typed at the beginning of this comment.
Posted by: arc | October 14, 2007 07:36 PM