Disastrous Facebook IPO no deterrent for Atlassian

Atlassian co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes says the fallout from the Facebook initial public offering has not deterred him or co-founder Scott Farquhar from any IPO of their own.

Although Cannon-Brookes said he could not offer any comment on whether the Australian tech company has any plans to go public, sources hint a float is on the company’s agenda.

“I don’t have any comment on our own plans,” he told SmartCompany this morning.

However, Cannon-Brookes said the fallout from the Facebook IPO hasn’t stopped the company from pursuing a public option in the company’s future.

“If anything, this has been a good reaction,” he says. “If you think about what causes a bubble, it’s caused by people buying irrationally on the belief they can sell it off at a bigger price later on down the line.”

“The good thing about Facebook is that when you look at it by itself, it’s still worth around $80 billion, and even if the share price falls it was still the largest tech IPO ever. And it’s growing as a company incredibly fast.”

Facebook’s shares rose by less than 0.5% during its first day of trading. Since its May 18 debut, shares have dropped from $US38 to $US31, and the company itself has been threatened with lawsuits by investors who believe they were misled by the company’s underwriters.

This also comes after a Nasdaq glitch prevented some investors from buying shares on the day of the float. While some critics have attributed this to the fall in Facebook’s share price, other financial analysts merely say the company may have been overvalued.

Cannon-Brookes says this could be a good sign the market is acting rationally.

“People are making a rational decision about the value of the stock rather than an irrational one, and that’s good for the long-term health of the market right now.”

“You don’t want people to buy or sell stock based on the hopes or dreams of making piles of money. You want people to think the company is going to do well in the long-term.”

“Facebook has $4 billion in revenue and is continuing to grow.”