December 31, 2008 > Silicon Valley IPO's shrink to fewest in 20 years Silicon Valley IPO's shrink to fewest in 20 years Submitted By AP Wire Service SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP), Dec 27 _ California's famed Silicon Valley had just one initial public stock offering in 2008, the fewest in more than 20 years. The single IPO, for a relatively unknown systems security firm named ArcSight, contrasts with an average of 28 stock rollouts each year since 1985. In better times, highly publicized initial offerings galvanized Wall Street and the Silicon Valley's booming economy. They transformed startup companies into billion-dollar giants, as was the case for Netscape in 1995, Google in 2004 and virtualization software pioneer VMware in 2007. Analysts say 2009 may bring no initial offerings at all. Jim Watson, managing director of CMEA Ventures, thinks it may be two years before the valley's IPO market revives. ___ Information from: San Jose Mercury News, http://www.sjmercury.com