Let's try to remain calm. A few observations: The timing of this announcement was certainly made after careful consultations with the lead underwriter. The underwriter wants to bring the offering to market now, in a robust market for these shares, probably thinking that today's good news on the science gives him a favorable story to sell to the market or in a private placement. If the price climbs in the weeks after the offering, the underwriter stands to make a bundle on over-allotment shares. In the long run (yes, I know, in the long run we are all dead), ARIAD's return on these new funds will hopefully dwarf all of our present concerns and dismay, catapulting the company far beyond where it might have been without the proceeds of this offering. It's a matter of enduring current pain for long term gain, as anyone who has sold shares to a venture capitalist will attest. In the meantime, having doubled my position this morning, I am going off to lick my wounds and enjoy a stiff drink.
