>So couldn't they have asked, say, $21 a share instead of $14?
There's an art to pricing IPOs. You want the price high enough so the issuers (and their creditors and venture capitalists) can get a good haul, but it's good PR to have a nice postmarket pop (good press from good stock performance is an important part of the dot.com business strategy), and the bankers get to reward their favorite clients with an instant profit.
Lister Jordan Hayes is at the cutting edge of IPO pricing - Jordan?
Doug