David Politis

So the real question is: How much money will Omniture raise once it completes its Initial Public Offering?

Well, as I tell shareholders and financial professionals alike when discussing some of our agency’s publicly traded clients and the prospects for the financial future, “If I could predict the future, I’d probably be sitting on a beach in the Bahamas instead of . . . .”

Nevertheless, even if deciphering SEC forms (such as Omniture’s S-1) can be difficult at times, the info’s still there if you dig a bit.

The basics are this: Omniture (as a company) plans to sell 8.7 million shares to the public at a price range the underwriters anticipate will fall between $7.50 and $9.00 per share at the “opening price.” At this amount and this range, we’re talking about a “gross” total of between $65.25 million and $78.3 million.

Additionally, the underwriters also have the ability (if they so choose) to sell an additional 1.6 million shares as part of an “overallotment.”

Typically, overallotment shares are not sold if the stock prices at or near the bottom of the anticipated pricing range. But for argument’s sake, let’s assume that the demand is high and the entire overallotment is sold too, which would give us an additional range of $12 million to $14.4 million in additional gross proceeds.

Add up all the numbers and you end up with a potential range of gross proceeds to Omniture of $65.25 million on the low end to $92.7 million on the high end in IPO gross proceeds to Omniture. And that’s based upon a LOT of assumptions (too many to detail here).

I personally expect the IPO to go well for Omniture and I expect the shares to “price” and begin trading before the end of July. If not, then we’re realistically talking post-Labor Day for the completion of the IPO, and no one wants that to happen. Not Omniture, not the underwriters, not the brokers and dealers.

So pick a date? Okay, how ’bout a wild guess of Wed., July 12 at an opening price of $8.60 per share? I guess we’ll see.

[DISCLOSURE: Omniture was a client years ago back when the company was known as MyComputer.com. Additionally, I have been offered the ability to purchase “friends & family” shares as part of the IPO, an offer that I have not yet decided if I will act upon or not. If so, I will disclose this too. dlp.]

Unless you’ve been hibernating in a cave in Bryce Canyon, chances are you know that Orem, Utah-based Omniture is in the process of becoming a public company and has filed a registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for an initial public offering.

As a strategic communications professional who’s been actively involved with public and pre-public companies since 1986, I’m always curious to see which local reporters and media outlets actually do a good job in reporting financial news — particularly if it’s financially technical, which IPOs tend to be.

In that regard, my hat’s off to Grace Leong at the Daily Herald in Provo, Utah for her Tuesday, 6/13/06 article entitled “Omniture sets IPO” because she got it right.

Leong lays out the basics of the deal, how many shares the company plans to sell, how many shares insiders plan to sell, the possibility of 1.6 million shares being sold as part of an overallotment, and the expectedprice range of the offering once it prices. She even provides readers with an expected net proceeds target assuming that the shares price at $8.25 per share.

All in all, a well-written story.

Call it a long vacation or a hiatus, I don’t care. But after nearly two years “off” from writing my weekly Utah Tech Watch column, I’m back.

Welcome to DavidPolitis.com. Pretty modest, huh? Oh well, it is my brand.

My goal is to begin writing here what I used to write about for 10 years as the self-syndicated columnist and founder of Utah Tech Watch that at one time or another was published by The Daily Herald (in Provo, Utah), the Deseret News (now the Deseret Morning News in Salt Lake City), and The Enterprise (also in Salt Lake City), as well as via e-newsletterand on the Web. But that’s not all.

If you don’t know me or my background, in a nutshell, I’ve been providing strategic communications services and counsel to companies, organizations and individuals as a professional since 1984, and for a couple of years before that if you count my college experiences too.

Over the years I’ve conducted, directed or participated in scores of award-winning communications programs for clients all over the United States, as well as overseas. More importantly, my clients have created hundreds of millions of dollars of corporate value, some through raising capital, others through mergers and acquisitions, and others through simply selling products/services.

Many of these clients have been in the technology industries (including software, hardware, Internet, telecommunications, services, as well as biotech, agtech, pharmaceuticals, life sciences, medical), but not all. And along the way, I’ve been directly involved in leading or supporting strategic communications programs and campaigns ranging from public relations and investor relations to advertising and Internet marketing. In fact, the only type of “strategic communications” program that I can think of that I haven’t had a hand in so far is television commercials — but I suspect that will happen too.

As a result, I’ve seen, heard and learned a lot in these 20+ years doing what I do, which means I’ve got opinions. And as proven previously with Utah Tech Watch, I’m not afraid to share those opinions.

So that’s what DavidPolitis.com is gonna be all about: thoughts, opinions, insights and contemplations abouttechnology, strategic communications, Utah and more.

Please feel free to write and share your thoughts or opinions in return, and let’ssee if in the process we can’t help makeliven things up a bit while also making things a smidge better. Later — Politis