Hoover's IPO Scorecard Reveals Major Decline In 2008

Number Of U.S. IPOs Decreased 85% From 2007

For Immediate Release

AUSTIN Texas - January 14, 2009 - Hoover's Inc. (http://www.hoovers.com) today announced a continued significant downturn in the U.S. IPO market - 31 companies went public on the major U.S. stock exchanges in 2008, an 85% decrease in the number of IPOs over 2007, as revealed in Hoover's IPO Scorecard (http://www.hoovers.com/ipo/scorecard). The 31 IPOs offered on the NYSE, NASDAQ and AMEX in 2008 raised $24.1 billion, compared to 209 IPOs in 2007, which raised $48.6 billion.

Year-in-Review from Hoover's IPO Scorecards

Q1 2008: There were just 12 IPOs in Q1, a 73% decrease from Q1 2007. While Q1 2008 IPOs raised $18.9 billion, Visa's mega-IPO led the charge, contributing $17.9 billion of the total. Visa priced above its expected range in March 2008, becoming the largest IPO ever for a U.S. company, knocking AT&T Wireless' 2000 IPO of $10.6 billion to the #2 spot. This quarter also began to usher in rampant IPO withdrawals and postponements due to investor concerns over the economy.

Q2 2008: The 13 IPOs of Q2, which raised $4.2 billion, represented a 77% decrease from Q2 2007. Investor skittishness continued amid subprime mortgage losses, rising oil prices, a slowing economy, tighter credit markets, recession fears and the impending presidential election. Less than half of this quarter's IPOs finished Q2 with positive returns.

Q3 2008: The five IPOs of Q3, which raised just $917 million, reflected an 87% decrease from Q3 2007. Out of these five IPOs, only one managed a positive return by the end of the quarter. September saw no IPOs at all, leading to a bad outlook heading into Q4 2008.

Q4 2008: There were no IPOs in either October or December, and only one in November - Grand Canyon Education - which priced lower than expected but is currently trading up more than 50% from its offering price. Other Q4 IPO findings include:

• Oil recycler Safety-Kleen shelved its IPO plans indefinitely due to market conditions, while KKR delayed its IPO plans until later in 2009.
• Retail/consumer IPOs were affected by the unstable economy - AMC Entertainment and Del Frisco's Restaurant Group scrapped their IPO plans altogether, while Italian luxury brands Ferragamo and Prada both announced they would put their IPOs on hold.

"The current state of the IPO market should come as no shock. The writing has been on the wall since the latter part of 2007 when investors started becoming more concerned about mortgage sector woes and the slowing economy," said Tim Walker, Hoover's industry expert and author of the Business Insight Zone. "It makes no sense for any company, large or small, to go public any time soon in this climate. And even if the broader stock market starts to turn upward, the IPO market will likely languish several months behind, at least, before it follows suit."

Hoover's delivers comprehensive insight and analysis about more than 28 million private and public companies worldwide, as well as information about industries and the people you need to know. Hover'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 the best- and worst-performing IPOs, biggest one-day jumps and drops in the first day of trading, and a breakdown of IPOs by industry sector.

About Hoover's, Inc. - The Fastest Path To Business ^™

Hoover's, a D&B company, provides its customers insightful 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.

Contact