NetSuite offering gets $161.2 million

NetSuite Inc., a software maker majority-owned by Oracle Corp. Chief Executive Larry Ellison, raised $161.2 million in an initial public offering after increasing the price of the stock three times.

The San Mateo, Calif.-based company, whose programs handle accounting and other tasks over the Internet, sold 6.2 million shares for $26 each. The deal’s managers can sell 930,000 more shares if there’s enough demand.

The stock will start trading today on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “N.”

Ellison, who invested $100 million in NetSuite in 1998, will hold directly or through family trusts a 55% interest in the firm. At $26 a share, the stake would be worth $852 million.

Ellison, who is also Oracle’s largest shareholder, has put his directly owned NetSuite stake into a “lockbox” company, effectively stripping him of voting powers, to reduce concerns about a conflict of interest.

The IPO was conducted as a Web-based auction.