The highly anticipated initial public offering (IPO) of %ArtificialIntelligence (A.I.) start-up company %CoreWeave (NASDAQ: $CRWV) has been a bust.
CoreWeave raised $1.50 billion U.S. from its IPO in what was the biggest market debut in America since 2021.
However, despite the money raised, the IPO disappointed both investors and Wall Street investment banks in what was seen as a test for U.S. capital markets.
CoreWeave’s stock began trading on March 28 at $39 U.S. per share, below its IPO price of $40 U.S. a share. After only two trading days, the company’s share price has fallen to $37 U.S.
The Wall Street firms that served as underwriters on the share sale also didn’t make much money on the deal.
Of the $1.50 billion U.S. raised in the stock offering, only $42 million U.S. went to the underwriters.
Wall Street heavy hitters %MorganStanley (NYSE: $MS), %JPMorganChase (NYSE: $JPM) and %GoldmanSachs (NYSE: $GS) must split that $42 million U.S. among themselves and a group of secondary underwriters.
Typically, the underwriting fee on a large U.S. IPO is 4% of the money raised. But in CoreWeave’s case, the fee amounted to 2.8% of the deal’s value.
Prior to its stock hitting the Nasdaq exchange, CoreWeave lowered its IPO price to $40 U.S. from an initial range of $47 U.S. to $55 U.S., citing weak demand from investors.
The poor showing raises questions about the current health of U.S. capital markets and whether other companies will pursue IPOs this year.
The timing of CoreWeave’s IPO was bad with the benchmark S&P 500 index falling 6% in March amid growing concerns over trade wars and a potential U.S. recession.
Additionally, investors had concerns about CoreWeave, specifically its reliance on Microsoft as a customer, its high debt level, and its business model that’s built around %Nvidia (NASDAQ: $NVDA) microchips.
