Decorize.com to be traded on NASDAQ

Less than two years have passed since Springfield-based decorize.com began doing business, but already the company is moving toward becoming a publicly-held company. According to Jon Baker, chief executive officer of decorize.com, by the end of the month, consumers will be able to buy shares of the company on the NASDAQ.

Baker said decorize.com, which enables large and small retailers to buy interior decorating products from the Far East, was approached just months after it began going public. The company's board of directors gave its approval to moving toward that end in September 2000, Baker said.

Baker said decorize.com will not go public with the traditional initial public offering, or IPO. Rather, decorize.com will participate in a reverse-merger because an IPO is costly both in terms of money and in time required by company officials.

"How that works is we identify a company that has a NASDAQ listing or was previously listed, and we merge into that company. The surviving company will be Decorize Inc. it's a vehicle to gaining trade status on NASDAQ," Baker said.

The company with which decorize.com will merge already has been chosen, Baker said, but for legal reasons, he's not at liberty to disclose that company's name.

Decorize.com last month announced its acquisition of Springfield-based GuildMaster, a home accents manufacturer, and Baker said the company, in keeping with its initial growth strategy, plans to acquire a second company in the coming months.

But, he said, the second acquisition will be a company separate from the one with which decorize.com will participate in the reverse merger.

Once all of the acquisitions are complete, Baker said Decorize Inc. will serve as the parent company, and decorize.com, GuildMaster and the second company acquired will operate as divisions of Decorize Inc.

A June 12 event at Highland Springs Country Club, hosted by decorize.com will serve as a thank-you to customers and as an opportunity to let them know about the coming public trading.

By the end of June, Baker said Decorize Inc. will have a trade symbol and it will be up for sale on the NASDAQ. He doesn't know what the initial stock price will be, but he said the reverse merger will allow the stock price to be set by the market.

Because of decorize.com's innovative business model, which essentially "cuts out the middle man" for retail buyers, Baker is optimistic that there will be a high demand for the company's stock.

"What we do is not like what others in the industry do. It's exciting to investors anytime you do something innovative with a leading business model," Baker said.

As the word about decorize.com's move toward NASDAQ has circulated in the community, the company already has gotten a lot of calls from interested parties, including customers, stockbrokers and sales representatives in the industry.

And, Baker said, although Internet sales are a small part of what decorize.com does, the company doesn't fit the mold of a traditional dot-com company many of which grew quickly and were ultimately unsuccessful.

"Technology is part of what we do, but it's not the whole thing. If the Internet collapsed tomorrow, we'd still be in business," Baker said, noting that the company has three arms of revenue the Internet sales, sales made by decorize.com sales representatives, and sales at market shows.

David Orwick, chief operating officer of decorize.com, was the company's first employee.

Having left Chicago, and a job in product development with Ameritech to jump on board with decorize.com, Orwick is excited about the company's growth and the fact that it will be publicly traded.

"Any time you look at a business plan, a business model, it's satisfying seeing that model come to fruition ... in growth, net creation of jobs and (for) customers," Orwick said.