Thursday, January 27, 2011

Lance Armstrong Foundation, Pluck Employees Benefit From Demand Media's IPO

The IPO this week of Demand Media, the Internet publishing firm has benefited both Austin's Lance Armstrong Foundation and former employees of Pluck, which Demand acquired in 2008. Demand Media debuted on the NYSE this week as DMD, selling 8.5 million shares of its stock at $17.00 per share. The firm's stock has traded as high as $25.00 in the last two days after its IPO debut. According to Demand Media's S-1, the Lance Armstrong Foundation made around $3.1M from selling its shares in Demand Media as part of the IPO. Ex-employees of Pluck with options or shares in Demand Media also benefited; at least one, David Panos, former CEO and co-founder of Pluck and now Chief Marketing Officer at Demand, had options for around 300,000 shares of Demand.