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The E*Trade ads remind us: Someone's going to win theLottery. Just not you.
So what's your option? Well, did you hear about the start-up(eBay) that went public last year at $18, and despite 1998 netincome of only $2.4 million, saw its share price soar 535 percentwithin weeks and its market capitalization eclipse $21 billion?
Sounds like a typical success story in the high-flyingsecurities market, but it's not. In reality, eBay'sexperience is an aberration. Despite the popularity of and the hypeabout initial public offerings (IPOs), most small companies do notgo public, and many that do end up paying a price--financial andotherwise.
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