A Year Later, Bankers Find the Well Is Dry

The West Coast investment banker was recounting complaints from technology company executives who are now getting takeover offers that would have been deemed paltry just last year.

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"They say, 'I had someone talking to me for $600 million; now they only want to pay $250 million,'" the exasperated banker says, summing up the harsh world of the new Nasdaq and the stubborn side of tech entrepreneurs.

After two years of feeding at the trough of hypervaluations, technology companies have lifted their heads to a painful reckoning: Their worth to the world is significantly less than it was a year ago. But some investment bankers say that until tech executives accept the Street's new valuation ideals -- pesky things like actually turning a profit in the near future -- the market for initial public offerings and mergers and acquisitions won't be willing to accommodate them anytime soon.

Equilibrium

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