Week in Review: IPOs, Entrepreneurship and 40 Years Trading on the NYSE
Posted by | June 17, 2011
More IPO buzz this week. On Wednesday, its first day of trading, Pandora shares were as high as $26. The excitement dwindled a bit on Thursday, even dipping below its initial offering price at one point. There are already a lot of mixed reviews out there debating whether or not the debut price was inflated.
Another big name announced major news this week, as Google introduced “Me on the Web,” a new tool on the dashboard to manage your online identity. This will be interesting to follow and see if it takes hold, as it’s a unique play on privacy settings for personal social media applications.
It’s also been a busy few weeks for Safeguard and our partner companies.
- On Wednesday, President and CEO Peter J. Boni was honored with the Ernst & Young Master Entrepreneur of the Year Award. Designed to recognize outstanding entrepreneurs whose guidance has created and sustained prosperous and innovative business, peter was presented with the award at the 25th Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year® Greater Philadelphia Awards Gala.
- Safeguard CFO Stephen Zarrilli was named a finalist for the Philadelphia Business Journal’s CFO of the Year award, presented by the Business Journal and Drexel University’s LeBow College of Business. The winners will be revealed at an awards ceremony on July 7.
- Executive Vice President and Managing Director, Life Sciences Group, Jim Datin was named as Vice Chairman of the Board of the University City Science Center, along with Kenneth J. Blank, Ph.D., Senior Vice Provost for Research and Graduate Education at Temple University.
- The National Investor Relations Institute’s (NIRI) annual conference was held this week, and nearly 1,300 IR practitioners and service providers came out to discuss the most important trends in the industry. John Shave moderated the “Managing Expectations: Effective Communication for Strategic Events and Audiences” panel discussion.
- We’re nearly two weeks into our 40 Days and 40 Facts about Safeguard Scientifics to commemorate our 40th year listed on the NYSE. Did you know that in 1954, Safeguard Scientifics (then the Lancaster Corporation) backed a cable television company called Jerrold Electronics? This company would eventually become Comcast.
- Over the past two weeks, Portico Systems announced a new contract with Hometown Health Plan and their membership with the Center for Health Value Innovation. In addition, the company debuted their Portico 9.0 platform at AHIP Institute.
- Swap.com gave us a preview of the new look of the site. Check it out.
- Tengion’s Neo-Urinary Conduit™ was granted orphan-drug designation by the FDA last week, entitling Tengion to seven years of U.S. marketing exclusivity for the Neo-Urinary Conduit if and when it receives regulatory approval. In addition, incentives in the form of tax credits for clinical research expenses and a waiver of the FDA’s application user fee will be granted.
Last week was the final round of the Philadelphia Chapter of NFTE’s annual business plan competition. The five competing high school students did a tremendous job sharing their ideas, and we at Safeguard want to congratulate them on building their businesses and making it to the final round. A special congratulations to first place winner Bianca Nieves and second place winner Viktor Vabishevich, who will be representing Philadelphia in the NFTE National Business Plan Competition this fall.
To read more of our “Week in Review” series, please use the following feed:safeguardscientifics.com/WeekInReview. Enjoy your weekend!
