Ebay, Inc. went public in September of 1998. The following information on shares outstanding was listed in the final prospectus filed with the SEC. In the IPO, the Ebay issued 3,500,000 new shares. The initial price to the public was $18.00 per share. The final first-day closing price was $44.88. If the investment bankers retained $1.26 per share as fees, what was the net proceeds to Ebay in dollars

Net proceeds to Ebay = $ 58,590,000.

Explanation:

An Initial Public Offering(IPO) refers to the sales of new block of shares to the general public by a company for the purpose of raising equity capital.

This exercise is always promoted by a third-party company referred to as an underwriter for a fee. The underwriter adds value to the capital raising share offering by contracting to buy up unsold share units should they be undersubscribed. The underwriting fee is a cost to the issuing company.

The net share capital due to the company is computed as follows

Gross share proceeds - underwriting fee

= (3,500,000 × $18.00) - (3,500,000× $1.26)

=$ 58,590,000.

Net proceeds to Ebay = $ 58,590,000.

The closing price of $44.88 is a distracter and should be ignored.