Posts Tagged ‘IPO’

The Way to an Investor’s Heart is Through His Wife’s Closet?

Wednesday, June 8th, 2011


(photo credit: fimoculous)

If you were a major luxury fashion house going public in an attempt to raise $3 billion from Asian investors, would you spend hours working on your investor PowerPoint presentation, or would you wrap a bunch of models in snakeskin and have them walk around at the Plaza Hotel?

Guess which way Prada went?

The Italian company is pursuing an IPO, which means it’s going to sell off pieces of itself to public investors, in Hong Kong this month. In order to woo potential investors, it held a relatively small fashion show for tycoons and their wives and daughters. Female tycoons either didn’t exist or were mysteriously lost in the editing of this WSJ piece about the event.

Prada is valued at $15.7 billion, so with this initial public offering, they’re giving up ownership of almost 20% of the company. But they’ve got to raise that cash somehow if their plans for world fashion domination are going to work out.

In other news, here’s a handy list of some of the biggest IPOs in U.S. history.

Hey, investor. Would YOU be wooed by a runway show?

Is Prada Stock Better Than A Prada Bag?

Monday, February 7th, 2011


credit: amandabhslater

After 10 years of talks, Prada is going boldly forward where no other Italian company has gone before: the Hong Kong stock exchange.

  • The company wants to expand its operations, and that means it needs cash. So it’s going after an initial public offering (IPO) in Hong Kong to raise money from investors.
  • The IPO is expected to do well because of a favorable economic climate and the designer’s excellent reputation.
  • If it follows through with the IPO, Prada will be the first European luxury brand listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange.

Facts & Figures

  • Prada was founded in 1913
  • Founder Mario Prada’s granddaughter currently owns 95% of the company

Best Quote

“Confident in the future development of the group, we can now face the coming challenges with serenity and seize the best opportunities offered by the international capital markets.” – Prada Chief Executive Patrizio Bertelli

What do you think?

What do you do when you need cash?

Here Isn’t An Offer From Groupon: Shares Of Stock!

Saturday, January 29th, 2011

“Groupon Inc., which last month rejected a $6 billion takeover offer from Google Inc., isn’t convinced it will sell shares in an initial public offering anytime soon, said Chief Executive Officer Andrew Mason.

The biggest daily deal website’s commitment to proceeding with an IPO this year is ‘less than 100 percent, that’s for sure,’ Mason said in an interview at the Digital-Life-Design conference in Munich. ‘An IPO is something we are considering, but we’re just trying to learn more about the option at this point and understand the benefits and drawbacks.’ ”

What do you think?

Is Groupon missing an opportunity to dominate the market now that it’s turned down a $6 billion buyout from Google AND put off becoming a publicly-traded company? When was the last time you suffered from hesitating? Was hesitating ever the right thing to do?

Groupon Will Not Be Googled

Monday, December 6th, 2010

They can probably find a better deal anyway.

  • Google allegedly offered $6 billion for the popular online coupon company – the most expensive acquisition in Google history. The initial offer was between $3.5 – 4 billion.
  • Online coupons have never been more popular, and Google was eager to get a piece of the action. They think that advertising locally is about to become really, really big.
  • Groupon is currently owned by a private group of investors, but it may go for an initial public offering (IPO) in 2011.

Facts & Figures

  • Over 33 million people subscribe to Groupon’s daily emails
  • Google is currently sitting on $33 billion in cash and other assets
  • Groupon made $500 million in sales this year – it’s growing at a faster rate than Google or Amazon did

What does it mean to take a company public?

Wednesday, October 6th, 2010

When a company “goes public” it means that it has decided to expand its ownership to include shareholders from the general public. When a company first goes public it’s called an IPO, or initial public offering. Proceeds (or the money raised from the IPO) can be used to fund further growth or to reward original shareholders (a “payout”). When a company is public, it breaks itself up into shares of stock available to be bought and sold by investors. In the U.S. public companies must register with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) a government agency that regulates U.S. financial markets.  Public companies are also required to file public financial statements with the SEC every quarter.

This isn’t true for every company, though. Many companies are “privately held,” which means that only a few people own the company and benefit from its success. In other words, if someone has created a great new company and gone public, anyone can invest their money in that company and share in its success (or, let’s be honest: failures). Private companies are not required to disclose financial information to the public.

NYSE Interview: Scott Cutler, Head of Listings

Friday, January 8th, 2010

scott-cutler.png Scott Cutler is the Head of Listings at the New York Stock Exchange, which means that when a company wants to go public and get listed on the NYSE, they’ve got to go through him first. We asked him about his work and how he got there, and Scott graciously answered.

TILE: What was your first job?
Scott: I was a paper boy!

TILE: How did you end up where you are today?
Scott: I started working as a corporate securities lawyer doing mergers and acquisitions. After that I transitioned to investment banking, working mainly with technology companies in the early days of the Internet. I joined the NYSE Euronext in April of 2006.

TILE: How does what you do affect the world at large? Why should I care about what you do?
Scott: The NYSE is one of the world’s largest financial markets and focuses on efficient trading and raising money for companies (when you buy stock or invest in a company, you are essentially giving the company money). Publicly traded companies employ over 30 million Americans and their families, that is a BIG deal! The NYSE lists over 2,000 companies in a wide variety of industries and I help manage the process of trading and raising capital.

TILE: Do you see more listings (IPOs on the NYSE) now that the economy has bottomed out?
Scott: There has been a large increase in initial public offerings, which started this past fall and will probably continue into 2010. After the crisis, the need for and ability of companies to raise money is very important.

TILE: What’s the best advice you would give to your teenage self?
Scott: Work hard at everything you do, as each step you take prepares you for another.  Life and a career is like climbing a mountain – go a little higher with each step and don’t look back.

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An IPO is…

Monday, October 5th, 2009

An IPO or “initial public offering” is when private companies become public by making shares of their stock available to the public for the first time. Companies do this for lots of reasons including raising money, changing owners, to have a public currency to buy other companies, and/or to create an incentive for employees. After the IPO the public can buy shares of the company as they are now publicly traded.