I was reading the book "The Intelligent Investor" with commentary by Jason Zweig, when I came across the following text in Chapter 6 (Pg 152):
Perhaps no stock personifies the pipe dream of getting rich from IPOs better than VA Linux. “LNUX THE NEXT MSFT,” exulted an early owner; “BUY NOW, AND RETIRE IN FIVE YEARS FROM NOW.” 10 On December 9, 1999, the stock was placed at an initial public offering price of $30. But demand for the shares was so ferocious that when NASDAQ opened that morning, none of the initial owners of VA Linux would let go of any shares until the price hit $299. The stock peaked at $320 and closed at $239.25, a gain of 697.5% in a single day. But that gain was earned by only a handful of institutional traders; individual investors were almost entirely frozen out.
My question is: How can the guys from VA Linux delay the launch to see an increase in the shares price of IPO if the IPO price is generally predetermined before the launch? Where am I going wrong? Can anyone help?