The Street.com Files For IPO

TheStreet.com registered for its initial public offering on Tuesday with expectations of raising at least $75 million.

The company, a popular Internet financial site, listed underwriters Goldman Sachs, Hambrecht & Quist and Thomas Weisel Partners with plans to trade under the proposed NASDAQ ticker of "TSCM."

"Their visibility and uniqueness will add strengths to their offering," David Menlo, of the IPO Financial Network, told CBS.MarketWatch.com.

"The key to the actual viability of any Web offering is its uniqueness and they have that," Menlo said.

The online financial Web site said it grew its subscriber base from 6,700 to 32,000 by the end of 1998 with revenue of $4.5 million and an accumulated deficit of $12.4 million. The company's filing did not detail page reads, a barometer of use for Web sites.

By the end of January, the company had signed advertising contracts for $3.1 million for the year, or $600,000 more than the 1998 total for ad revenue, the filing said.

MarketWatch.com, the publisher of CBS.MarketWatch.com, which is owned in part by CBS Corp., is a direct competitor with the TheStreet.com. MarketWatch (MKTW) went public Jan. 15, raising $53.7 million.

Written By Steve Gelsi and Bambi Francisco, CBS MarketWatch