QuinStreet on Tuesday set the pricing terms of its planned initial public offering, a move that would lower the Internet marketing startup's cash raised to as much as $165 million.
Foster City, California, QuinStreet plans to offer 10 million shares at between $17 and $19 apiece. In the company's original S-1 filing it had planned to raise $250 million.
The company isn't hurting for cash -- it's been profitable for years. For fiscal 2009, it reported a $17.3 million profit and reported profits ranging $12.9 million to $15.6 million a year dating back to 2005.
"Clients pay us for the actual opt-in actions by prospects or customers that result from our marketing activities on their behalf, versus traditional impression-based advertising and marketing models in which an advertiser pays for more general exposure to an advertisement," QuinStreet said in the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
QuinStreet offers clients improved results from search engines, promising potential customers to convert into qualified leads or clicks for them.
Founded in 1999, QuinStreet has raised about $60 million in venture capital from the likes of Granite Global Ventures, Split Rock Partners, Sutter Hill Ventures, Catteron Partners, Partech International, Focus Ventures, Rosewood Capital, Charter Growth Capital, VSP Capital, J&W Seligman, and Stanford University.
QuinStreet plans to use the cash raised in the offering toward working capital and general corporate purposes.
The company plans to trade on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol "QNST."