Alright! It seems that it is full steam ahead for IB's IPO. Clients can even get in on the action: Interactive Brokers's IPO
Watch out for Vonage-itis or Refco-itis The line that customers can buy into it make me think. Why would the IPO syndicate release such valuable shares to the general public? They are not a charity...
I have no idea for sure but I would guess that offering to smaller retail through an auction system would create more emotion and get IB a higher offering price, thus bringing in more dollars I think if IB was trying to pull a scam they would be selling more than 5% of the company. Also, IB is profitable, similar type numbers to ET and AMTD. I don't think it's fair comparing IB to Vonage, just my 2c though.
Yeah.. vonage is based off a shitty service that nobody really needs.. (VoIP? Gimmie a break, I can use teamspeak or something for free, and it's not that hard to set one up) IB is providing a service that will grow.. sooner or later people will realize that they're getting ripped off paying $7 - $10 / trade when they could be paying $2.
if its a dutch auction its means the stock will gap up very little if any. look at goog it barely opened above its dutch auction price.