News

July 25, 2000. Blue Martini (Nasdaq: BLUE), a customer relationship software vendor, soared up 34 25/32, or 174 percent, to 54 25/32 Tuesday in its initial public offering.

The company (www.bluemartini.com) offered 7.5 million shares with Goldman Sachs as the lead underwriter. Shares were expected to price between $16 and $18 after the company raised its price range from $11 and $13.

The company's software targets customer "touch points," such as Web sites, mobile wireless devices and online trading exchanges, as well as traditional venues such as stores and call centers.

Blue Martini lists BroadVision (Nasdaq: BVSN), E.piphany (Nasdaq: EPNY) and Vignette Corp. (Nasdaq: VIGN) as competitors. Other likely foes include companies such as i2 Technologies (Nasdaq: ITWO) and Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL).

Blue Martini has 35 customers, including Levi Strauss & Co., Harley Davidson and pure play dot-coms such as ibeauty.com. Levi and Deluxe Corp. accounted for 19 percent each of Blue Martini's 1999 sales, with Harley Davidson accounting for 10 percent.