Internet Advertisers Find It Hard to Keep Quiet Before IPOs

Hoover's (HOOV Quote), the online corporate financial information provider, went public last Wednesday in typical Internet IPO fashion. The stock jumped 102% to 28 1/2 before ending up 57.6% at 22 in its debut.

The IPO certainly garnered the company some publicity. But Hoover's was in the investing public's eye in more ways than one. Viewers who tuned into CNBC might have noted that Hoover's is sponsoring CNBC's ticker. The company also began running banner ads on TheStreet.com for the first time ever just six days before the IPO.

That's quite a high profile for a company in its quiet period. The SEC requires companies not to publicize, hype or tout their stocks before going public. ...