Signalling in the Internet Craze of Initial Public Offerings∗

In this paper we analyze the clustering phenomenon of underpricing in initial public offerings (IPOs), where firms in a particular industry choose to issue their new shares at the same time and at great discounts. The industry consists of many firms that have private information about their own qualities (high or low) and that must raise external capital first before production. In the product market, firms compete through quality ladders, where each high-quality firm monopolizes the production of a particular variety of product. We show that self-fulfilling multiple equilibria arise. In one, no firm underprices the IPO. In the other, all high-quality firms underprice their IPOs, resulting in clustering. Moreover, the clustering is more likely to occur in economic upturns than in downturns, and in an easy credit market than in a tight market.