Inmarsat was converted into a private company in 1999, and member states were granted shares that many quickly sold or transferred to national telecom operators. Several attempts at a public share offering failed after the global dot-com bubble burst in 2000, and the company was eventually bought by Apax Partners and Permira, two European private equity firms, for an estimated $1.5 billion. Inmarsat was listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2005 in an initial public offering that valued the company at more than 1.3 billion pounds, or $2.4 billion, at the time.