Author of THE PAYPAL WARS by World Ahead Publishing Warns That IPO Will
Attract a 'Rogue's Gallery of Foes'
LOS ANGELES, Aug. 12 /PRNewswire/ -- Eric M. Jackson, author of an
upcoming book on Internet payment giant PayPal, has a warning to the
stakeholders of Google: "Stop the IPO process before it's too late."
Jackson's book, THE PAYPAL WARS: BATTLES WITH EBAY, THE MEDIA, THE MAFIA AND
THE REST OF PLANET EARTH (September; ISBN: 0-9746701-0-3, World Ahead
Publishing, hardback: $27.95 US, $41.95 CAD), will be available in bookstores
nationwide on September 21st. "IPOs may generate a lot of cash," says
Jackson, "but they also attract a rogue's gallery of foes. Lawyers and
regulators nearly sunk PayPal's IPO and they continued to plague us afterward.
Google is learning the hard way that there's a dark side to going public."
THE PAYPAL WARS is a cautionary tale about the legal and regulatory forces
that threaten to undermine American entrepreneurship. Written by PayPal's
former head of marketing, the book details the payment company's rise from an
unknown startup to its precarious IPO and subsequent acquisition by the
Internet powerhouse eBay. Today, PayPal has over 50 million users.
"Google is already facing many of the same predators that threatened
PayPal during our public offering," says Jackson. "Google's stock plan got it
in hot water with regulators; PayPal was banned from Louisiana by state
regulators. Google has been walloped by class action and trademark
litigation; PayPal had to delay its IPO because of a lawsuit."
"PayPal had few legal problems for its first three years," continues
Jackson, "and then during the week of our IPO we were sued by a competitor,
threatened by a bellicose SEC regulator, and banned from operating in one
state, with threats from several others. And this onslaught didn't let up
once our IPO was done -- within a few months we faced multiple class action
lawsuits and had New York's ever-zealous Attorney General Eliot Spitzer
breathing down our necks."
Although not yet available to the public, THE PAYPAL WARS' pro-
entrepreneurial message is eliciting positive reactions in business and
political circles. "THE PAYPAL WARS is the Liar's Poker of the Internet era
-- a gripping, honest tale," says Jeff Giesea, the president of FierceMarkets
Inc. Michael New, a contributor to National Review Online, warns that readers
will be, "shocked by what [PayPal's origins] tell us about the business
environment in America." And Doug Bandow of the Cato Institute adds, "THE
PAYPAL WARS offers an inspiring story."
THE PAYPAL WARS is one of four titles from World Ahead Publishing that are
in production and will be published the second half of 2004.
ABOUT WORLD AHEAD PUBLISHING
World Ahead Publishing is a privately-held, California-based corporation
with a growing coterie of authors who advocate individual liberty and free
markets. World Ahead believes that freedom is the inalienable right of all
human beings but the spread of liberty is by no means a foregone conclusion --
individual freedom and the institutions that make it possible, including
capitalism itself, face risks from reactionary and powerful interests. To
that end, World Ahead Publishing seeks to publish thought-provoking nonfiction
books exploring the significant economic, political, and security issues
facing the nation and the world. Three other titles -- including "Thank You,
President Bush," an anthology with an introduction by Gov. Jeb Bush -- will
debut in the second half of 2004, and eight new books are planned for 2005-
2006.
For more information: http://www.worldaheadpublishing.com
CONTACT: Steven Phenix
The Alliant Group
(512) 585-7913
phenix@thealliantgroup.com
SOURCE World Ahead Publishing
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Related links:
http://www.worldaheadpublishing.com
CONTACT:
Steven Phenix of The Alliant Group,
+1-512-585-7913, or phenix@thealliantgroup.com , for World Ahead
Publishing
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