Dolby Labs Files for a $460M IPO, to Trade on NYSE

WASHINGTON – Audio technology company Dolby Laboratories Inc. (search) filed on Friday to raise as much as $460 million in an initial public offering of Class A common stock.

Dolby's digital audio and surround sound technology is used in movie soundtracks, DVDs, television, satellite and cable broadcasts, video games, and personal computers.

The company did not disclose how many shares it plans to sell or at what price. Those details are expected in future filings.

It will use the proceeds from the IPO for general corporate purposes, including working capital and acquisitions.

Morgan Stanley (MWD) and Goldman Sachs & Co. (GS) are lead underwriters for the offering, according to the filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (search).

JPMorgan, Adams Harkness and William Blair & Co. are also serving as underwriters.

Dolby has applied to list its stock on the New York Stock Exchange (search) under the symbol "DLB."

Dolby will have two classes of common stock, Class A and Class B, which have identical rights, except for voting and conversion. Each share of Class A is entitled to one vote per share, while each share of Class B is entitled to 10 votes.

Each share of Class B common stock is convertible to one share of Class A common stock.

For the fiscal year ended Sept. 24, the company reported net income of $34.6 million on revenue of $289 million.

For the previous fiscal year, Dolby reported net income of $31 million on revenue of $217.5 million.

According to the filing, stockholders will also be selling shares in the offering, but the document did not say who will be selling the shares or the amount they will be selling.

Ray Dolby, who founded the company in 1965, is currently the primary stockholder with a 98.2 percent ownership of Class B common stock. He owns 85 million shares, according to the filing.