CANDY CRUSHED

King Digital IPO sheds 15% on first day of trading,

The company behind the super- hot Candy Crush mobile game app got a frigid reception on Wall Street Wednesday when shares of King Digital Entertainment fell nearly 16% in their first day of trading.

The highly anticipated initial public offering, which made its debut on the New York Stock Exchange under the stock symbol KING, dropped $ 3.50 to $ 19.00. That 15.6% loss was the worst first- day performance of an IPO valued at more than $ 500 million in 15 years, says Kathleen Smith of Renaissance Capital, an IPO investment advisory firm. “Everyone has lost money,” she says.

King is the latest disappointment for an IPO of a high- visibility technology company. In sharp contrast to its 16% opening- day drop, IPOs on average have gained 22% on their first day of trading this year, Renaissance says. Yet King’s poor reception also could be a sign that investors’ enthusiasm for IPOs in general might be hitting its limit.

All eight of the IPOs that started trading last week are now below their first- day closing prices, Smith says. Last week’s largest IPO, software maker A10 Net- works, is trading below its initial IPO offering price. And in one case, cloud- based software com- pany Globoforce withdrew the IPO that it had slated for last week.

IPOs of other companies in King’s industry also had trouble. Some of the worst performing tech IPOs in recent years have been game- related stocks. Shanda Games of China lost 14% of its value in its first day of trading in 2009, Smith says. And online game maker Zynga fell 5% on its first day and is down 50% since then. There’s a concern gaming stocks are one- hit wonders, and the company’s stocks suffer once their games’ popularity wanes.

Another test of the IPO market comes today, as three deals are expected to start trading: biotech Applied Genetic, financial Square 1 and outsourcer Trinet. “This is a healthy correction,” Smith says. “This is the IPO wall of worry.”