Online financial-news site TheStreet.com won't just be writing about the stock market. Soon, they might make market news.
The company said Tuesday it filed for a US$75 million initial public offering. Goldman Sachs is the lead underwriter.
The site -- founded by outspoken money manager and financial columnist James Cramer in 1996 -- runs news and feature stories by about 50 journalists who crank out copy for 36,000 subscribers.
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TheStreet.com will do well in an IPO, said Randall Roth, an analyst at Renaissance Capital's IPO fund. The site offers "an insiders' perspective, whereas some of the other sites don't. This is more along the lines of a Motley Fool -- you're paying for a viewpoint."
Roth also likes the idea that TheStreet.com aims to empower the growing number of individual investors online with information and that it has a fee-based subscription model.
Of course, the site isn't making any money to date. Last year, TheStreet.com had a loss of $16.2 million on revenue of $4.6 million.
TheStreet.com also said it expects "to continue to incur net losses in 1999 and subsequent fiscal periods" and that competition is increasing from the likes of The Wall Street Journal's interactive edition, Fortune, Bloomberg News, Charles Schwab (SCH), The Motley Fool, and MarketWatch (MKTW).
MarketWatch had its own stellar IPO last month and saw its stock's price jump fivefold on its first day of trading.
TheStreet.com will use proceeds from the offering to develop new products, expand internationally, and possibly acquire companies and technology.
Foreshadowing for the IPO announcement came on Monday, when media heavyweight The New York Times Company gave TheStreet.com its blessing with $15 million in cash and services for a minority stake in the company. In January, TheStreet.com said it finished raising a $25 million round of venture capital from the likes of Oak Investment Partners and Bowman Capital Management.
Co-founder Cramer stands to benefit from an IPO -- he owns about 2.7 million shares in the company.
