By Capt. Hiram Benjamin Chunderford

SAN FRANCISCO - In a move that stunned financial markets, pioneering Internet-Web site FogWatch.com has announced plans to go public by raising $200 million through an initial public offering. Financial analysts believe that the move could be the first sign of a revival in the beleaguered dot-com sector.

FogWatch plans to issue 20 million shares at $10 a share, according to company founder and online weather-content visionary Rear Admiral Phineas Fogg-Bottom. The crusty seaman spoke at a news conference held today from the deck of the HMS FogWatch, a British weather ship moored in San Francisco that serves as FogWatch.com’s home base.

The IPO seems to defy current market logic, given the battered state of the dot-com industry, which has seen hundreds of companies fail in the last two years. But Fogg-Bottom said going public is the only way to accomplish FogWatch.com’s goal of becoming the single online resource for products and services concerning fog and fog-related phenomena.

"We’ve reached a point in our company’s history in which we need additional funds to accomplish the mission at hand," Fogg-Bottom said. "The market for fog-related products and services is potentially enormous, and we simply could not see tapping that market fully with just venture-capital funding."

According to Fogg-Bottom, FogWatch.com will succeed where other firms have failed by becoming a middleman for fog-related products and services (FRPAS), rather than by building its own expensive fog warehouse and distribution system. Currently, the FRPAS market is highly fragmented and plagued by inefficiencies.

"Ask the average consumer where to go for fog-related products and services, and you’ll just get a puzzled look," Fogg-Bottom said. "We plan to change that."

FogWatch has already begun work on an elaborate trading exchange that will bring together FRPAS buyers and sellers. Located in an underground, fog-proof bunker in San Francisco’s Outer Sunset district, the FogExchange features gigantic flat-panel trading screens that let FogWatch traders monitor the status of fog trading anywhere in the world. Meanwhile, a lightning-fast 1000BaseT computer network and ultra-high-speed T5 Internet connection enable traders to immediately take advantage of minor price variations before the rest of the market catches on.

But Fogg-Bottom doesn’t plan to stop with just the FRPAS market, according to market analysts. The company is also planning to roll out its unique business model to other industries through a series of elegantly structured partnerships that remove much of the risk from FogWatch’s balance sheet while maximizing its potential return.

The concept represents a brilliant innovation that rivals such financial developments as the creation of the mutual fund or even stock trading itself, according to Chuck Ponsey, managing partner at New York City-based venture capital firm <Millenniura> ± ePartners Venture Management.

"The FogWatch.com IPO is going to take the stock market by storm, no pun intended," Ponsey said. "I’m advising all my clients to load up on this stock, and I’m adding a major position to my personal portfolio. This opportunity is simply too good to be missed."