RightNow Technologies of Bozeman goes public

RightNow Technologies made an initial public offering of stock Thursday, giving the Bozeman-based tech company a lot more money to invest in its business, and its 228 local employees a financial reward.

By KAYLEY MENDENHALL, Chronicle Staff Writer

http://bozemandailychronicle.com/articles/2004/08/06/news/rightnowbzbigs.txt

The company priced 6.3 million shares at $7 each for the inital offering and the stock traded as high as $7.52 Thursday, according to the Associated Press.

After expenses, the IPO is expected to net about $38 million for RightNow.

A volume of 2.9 million shares of RightNow stock traded on the Nasdaq National Market Thursday, the AP reported. The company’s symbol is RNOW.

"It’s great for everybody who’s been with the company since it started," said David Smith, executive director of the Bozeman Area Chamber of Commerce. "It’s been a fun story for all of us to watch and root for in the community."

RightNow, which makes customer-service software for companies that do business on the Internet, was founded by Greg Gianforte in Bozeman in 1997. The company expanded quickly during the late 1990s, adding employees and opening other offices in Texas and California.

In 2000, RightNow considered going public, but company officials changed their minds when the technology and Internet market crashed.

Since filing their registration statement for Thursday’s IPO in May, RightNow officials have followed Securities and Exchange Commission regulations and have not commented on the offering.

Now that the offering has been made, Ali Piper, a RightNow spokeswoman, said company officials are in a mandatory 25-day quiet period.

But Cheryl Kingstone, a technology analyst with the Yankee Group based in Toronto, said people who have followed the company’s history will likely be excited about the news.

"It gives them cash to invest in the business and bring the business forward," she said. "That’s something any organization needs at this time."

As for employees, Kingstone said, the IPO validates their stock options.

"There are a lot of companies out there and a lot of employees out there that bought into the stock options and the company never went public and they could never do anything with it," she said.

Along with giving RightNow a boost, the IPO will also bring more national and international attention to the Gallatin Valley as a prosperous business environment, Smith said.

"I think that people who have these things on their radar screen — investors as well as entreprenuers — I think they look for communities like this that are buzzwords," he said. "Bozeman is a buzzword."

Kayley Mendenhall is at [email protected]