Companies wait quietly to go public - Boston Globe

As soon as the stock market recovers and corporate IT spending regains
momentum, investment bankers are ready to take a growing number of
profitable Internet companies public. For now, however, "the doors to the
high-tech IPO market remain tightly sealed." Two Silicon Valley companies
are generally viewed as the frontrunners in the future IPO derby: Google
and Salesforce.com. In fact, many IT insiders are privately calling Google
the "next Netscape." Until there is a speedy resolution to the war in Iraq
and broad-based economic growth, though, "executives are temporarily
setting aside their dreams of instant riches and pushing on through the
downturn."