Hoover's IPO Scorecard Reveals First Year-Over-Year Triple-Digit Percentage Increase in More Than a Decade

For Immediate Release

Number of 2009 U.S. IPOs Increased 103% from 2008

AUSTIN, TEXAS – January 11, 2010 – Hoover's, Inc. (www.hoovers.com) today announced a 103% increase in the number of U.S. IPOs for 2009 vs. 2008, as revealed in Hoover's IPO Scorecard (www.hoovers.com/ipo/scorecard). Sixty-three companies went public on the major U.S. stock exchanges in 2009, raising $25 billion, compared to 2008 when 31 companies went public, raising $24 billion (Visa's mega-IPO contributed $17.9 billion of the 2008 total).

Year-in-Review from Hoover's IPO Scorecards

• Q1 2009: In a slow start to the year, there were only two IPOs in Q1, representing an 83% decrease from Q1 2008. These two IPOs raised $722 million, with formula maker Mead Johnson's IPO making up $720 million of that total.

• Q2 2009: The 12 IPOs of Q2, which raised $1.6 billion, represented only an 8% decrease from Q2 2008. China-based online gaming company Changyou.com went public in April and is currently trading up more than 100% from its offer price.

• Q3 2009: The 17 IPOs of Q3, which raised $5.5 billion, reflected a 240% increase from Q3 2008, and marked the first quarter-over-quarter triple-digit percentage increase in IPOs since 2004. Q3 beat the previous four quarters combined, both in the number of IPO filings (more than 30) and their average value (around $400 million).

• Q4 2009: There were 32 IPOs in Q4, which raised $17.2 billion as compared to the sole Q4 2008 IPO by Grand Canyon Education. Other Q4 2009 IPO findings include:

• Verisk Analytics raised $1.9 billion in its October IPO and became the largest U.S. IPO of 2009, while Spain's Banco Santander raised $8.1 billion, making it the world's largest IPO of 2009.

• Some well-known name brands made their IPO debuts in Q4, including the Vitamin Shoppe, Dole Food Company, Dollar General Corporation and Hyatt Hotels Corporation.

"It seemed like the IPO market had nowhere to go but up after a terrible second half of 2008, but in fact the beginning of 2009 was even worse. Yet the second half of 2009 saw much better momentum in IPOs, especially when we look at the four Q3 filings for more than $1 billion each, and the two offerings in Q4 that raised a combined $10 billion," said Tim Walker, Hoover's industry expert and author of the Business Insight Zone. "While the market is still uncertain, the 103% increase in IPOs for 2009 seems to indicate growing confidence by investors, underwriters and companies that are considering IPOs."
Hoover's analyzes the IPO market daily to produce the quarterly IPO Scorecard. Each IPO Scorecard includes an assortment of facts selected by Hoover's editors, including best- and worst-performing IPOs, biggest one-day jumps and drops in the first day of trading, and a breakdown by industry sector.

About Hoover's, Inc.

Hoover's, a D&B company, provides its customers with insight and actionable information about companies, industries and key decision makers, along with the powerful tools to find and connect to the right people to get business done. Hoover's provides this information for sales, marketing, business development, and other professionals who need intelligence on U.S. and global companies, industries, and the people who lead them. Hoover's unique combination of editorial expertise and one-of-a-kind data collection with user-generated and company-supplied content gives customers a 360-degree view and competitive edge. This information, along with powerful tools to search, sort, download and integrate the content, is available through Hoover's (http://www.hoovers.com), the company's premier online service. Hoover's is headquartered in Austin, Texas.

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