Scott Blum is looking to cash out again.
His Aliso Viejo-based Buy.com Inc. filed for an initial public offering Tuesday. The offering would be the second stock sale for the Internet retailer since its founding in 1997.
Buy.com is looking to raise $86 million. The company plans to use the money to pay back ThinkTank Holdings, another company owned by Blum.
RBC Capital Markets, Thomas Weisel Partners and Pacific Crest Securities are set to underwrite the offering, according to papers filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Buy.com, which sells DVDs, computers and electronics, went public in the late 1990s, making Blum an instant millionaire.
But the company ended up spiraling with losses and competition from Amazon.com Inc. Blum bought it back in 2002 for pennies on the dollar, taking the company private.
The offering could be among the larger ones for Orange County this year.
Last year, San Clemente-based Sunstone Hotel Investors Inc. raised $413 million in the largest local public offering of 2004.
Another San Clemente company, medical device maker IntraLase Corp., was second at about $100 million.
Buy.com has worked to turn itself around since going private. Last year, it reported a net loss of $15.4 million on $290.8 million of revenue.
That was better than 2003 when Buy.com reported a net loss of $25.6 million on $238.2 million of revenue.
