Posted on Nov 06, 2015 in Press
The biggest question on Wall Street on Friday was why Square, the upstart mobile payments company, was so determined to go public now.
Square knows that it faces an uphill battle. To account for its challenges, the company on Friday set its price per share in the $11 to $13 range, valuing the company at roughly $3.9 billion. That is well below its most recent private market estimate of $6 billion.
“A big name like Square going public at a down round paves the way to wonder what Silicon Valley unicorns will do so now,” said Kaylan Tildsley, a partner at Triton Research, which researches private companies.
Still, potential investors are digging into the company’s prospectus and setting up meetings with management during the firm’s road show to market its stock, according to people briefed on the company’s plans. And from Square’s perspective, it may be better to take its chances in the public arena now than to wait until next year, when it could be competing for attention with other unicorns — start-ups valued at $1 billion or more — going through the same issues.
“Their thought is, Let’s get out there sooner rather than later,” Ms. Tildsley said.
Read full article at nytimes.com
