Smartphone Firm Palm to Raise $83.9M; Stock Jumps 15%

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on March 10, 2009 - 10:44am.

Sunnyvale, Calif. - Shares of smartphone maker Palm (NASD: PALM) rose 15% on Tuesday after the company said that it will raise $83.9 million in a public stock offering. Palm said that it will use the proceeds to strengthen its working capital position, as well as to launch its highly anticipated Palm Pre smart phone.

The company, which previously had announced plans to sell 18.5 million shares, boosted the size of the offering to 23.1 million shares, pricing them at $6 each.

The offering includes 18.5 million shares acquired by venture-capital firm Elevation Partners in January.

Elevation will recoup the $49 million that it originally paid for the stock, and use it to buy 8.2 million shares through the offering.

http://www.palm.com