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Orem-Based Omniture Files for IPO

Posted on: Thursday, 6 April 2006, 18:00 CDT

By Bob Mims, The Salt Lake Tribune

Apr. 5--Utah's Omniture Inc. said late Tuesday it has registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission to make an initial public stock offering worth $120 million.

The 10-year-old Web-analytics software and services company has been rumored for months to be on the verge of an IPO after several years of reportedly skyrocketing revenues and a rapidly growing list of high-profile customers.

Privately held, Orem-based Omniture has guarded its financials closely. However, with the filing of its 92-page Form S-1, the company's earnings became public record -- and the results were as formidable as analysts had expected.

Omniture's revenues have exploded from $3.12 million in 2002 to more than $41 million for fiscal 2005. CEO and co-founder Josh James -- restricted under SEC rules from discussing the IPO Tuesday -- had told The Salt Lake Tribune recently that the company had grown to reach the $60 million revenue level.

Although net losses for 2005 were $17.4 million, Omniture reported to the SEC that it still had nearly $22.2 million in cash and cash equivalents going into 2006.

Filings with the SEC left blank the specific number of shares and the expected opening price ranges Omniture expects once trading begins. The company did note that at the conclusion of the IPO, it expected to have 260 million shares; as of March 31, 153 stockholders privately held nearly 73 million outstanding shares.

The company has applied to be listed on the tech-heavy Nasdaq exchange under the OMTR ticker symbol. Morgan Stanley & Co. and Credit Suisse Securities will act as lead managers of the offering, assisted by Deutsche Bank Securities and J.P. Morgan Securities.

The 32-year-old James started the company in 1996 along with fellow Brigham Young University computer student John Pestana. Their first office was in the basement of James' Orem apartment. James' wife, Sherie, was the startup's part-time receptionist.

Originally christened JP Graphics, the company went through several name changes -- JP Interactive, SuperStats and MyComputer.com among them -- before finally settling on Omniture. Along the way, it won over big-name clients such as Wal-Mart, eBay, America Online, Sony, The New York Times, Hyatt and General Motors.

Today, Omniture employs more than 400 -- a work force that has grown 400 percent in the past two years -- and works out of a state-of-the-art, 9,000-square-foot headquarters.

In a February interview, James acknowledged he was closer than ever to approving an IPO.

"We are at a point where an IPO is something we will consider," he said. "It could be a lot of fun -- but being the leader in our own space is always the most important thing to us."

News of the IPO registration broke too late Tuesday to get comments from analysts, but they have been kind to Omniture in recent reports, consistently ranking it at or near the top in the Web-analytics sector.

"More than any other vendor in the market, Omniture understands that what makes or breaks Web analytics within large enterprises are the human issues of usability, training and consulting," Forrester Research wrote in January.

Omniture also has been listed in the Inc. 500 as one of America's fastest-growing companies and in the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 for the past three years.

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MWD, DB, DBK, JPM, GM, NYT,

Source: The Salt Lake Tribune

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