少し前にIPOにおける投資銀行の利益相反問題というのをご紹介したのですが、その続報的な話しです。
Has Wall Street Changed Its Tune? (New york Times)
WHEN the Warner Music Group went public last month, Edgar Bronfman Jr., its flamboyant chief executive, took a victory lap at the New York Stock Exchange. After the Led Zeppelin guitar god Jimmy Page serenaded traders with "Whole Lotta Love," the band's 1969 hit, Mr. Bronfman wandered the floor with a bevy of investors in tow.(中略) Merrill decided it had to drop out of the Warner offering after its top media research analyst, Jessica Reif Cohen, told her firm's senior bankers that they were overpricing the shares, according to several executives involved in the initial public offering. And her opinion cost Merrill not just a prestigious client, but also millions of dollars in fees.
Ms. Reif Cohen, it turns out, was right. In fact, the I.P.O. was such a dud that Warner Music had to lower the planned offering price to $17 a share, down from a range of $22 to $24. The price has generally been flat ever since; on Friday, the shares closed at $16.82.
