April 25, 2008 — (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — So much for the “Rackspace may not actually file for the IPO” angle in this morning’s story. Reports started arriving late Friday that Rackspace (www.rackspace.com) had filed its S-1 form with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, looking to raise money through an initial public offering of its common stock.
Rackspace’s announcement says “the number of shares to be offered and the price range for the offering have not been determined.” A Reuters story on the filing says the company intends to raise “up to $400 million,” though it doesn’t explain where the figure comes from.
According to the filing, and the subsequent announcement, Goldman, Sachs, Credit Suisse and Merrill Lynch were lead underwriters for the IPO.
Rackspace didn’t offer a time frame, or many other details, for the IPO. It did say it intends to trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “RAX.”
There had been some speculation about the company’s plans for an IPO leading up to the filing, sparked in part by the company’s hiring of a new CFO and tinkering with its corporate identity, as well as its acquisition of Webmail.us, now known as Mailtrust.
In the “also, incidentally” file, Rackspace announced today that it would be providing hosting services for property valuation specialist Pro-Teck Services.
