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Stripe valued at $159B, 2025 annual letter

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Re: Stripe valued at $159B, 2025 annual letter

#31

Post by KK7NIL »

onion2k wrote: post #13
fourseventy wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To give liquidity to investors.

The cost of that liquidity is missing out on realizing future growth though. It's fairly safe to assume that as there isn't an IPO yet the investors want to hold rather than cash in returns. They probably believe there's more growth potential, and that the board are the right people to deliver it.

> The cost of that liquidity is missing out on realizing future growth though.

Why would it be? I don't believe an IPO has to be dilutive, it can be done with already issued shares. I grant you that's not usually how they're done though.

Re: Stripe valued at $159B, 2025 annual letter

#32

Post by hypeatei »

adventured wrote: post #21
jameskilton wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Stripe has been doing annual tender offers. Their stance on not being public yet is that they don't need to be, as an IPO is mainly a way to raise money. As an ex-Stripe, I understand the sentiment, and the tender offers are a nice middle ground for now, but I still would like to see them go public eventually.

An IPO today is mainly a way for major investors - those that want out - to liquidate out in a big way by dumping to a very large mass of investors. There is no other means to do that without signaling a gigantic loss of confidence. Raising money as a private entity is trivial these days if you're in the league that Stripe is. See: the comical AI private funding levels.

> An IPO today is mainly a way for major investors

Major investors and insiders. Stay the hell away from IPOs if you're not an institution getting access to shares at a reasonable price.

Re: Stripe valued at $159B, 2025 annual letter

#33

Post by paxys »

baxtr wrote: post #8
fourseventy wrote: post #2

It's insane that they aren't public yet. Their investors must be pressuring them like crazy to IPO.

It’s sad. Public companies allow the rest of us to participate in a success story like this. Until IPO it’s only a selected group of affluent people who have access to these private companies.

We usually hear about the success stories, but public markets have killed wayyyy more companies than they have helped. Unless they really need the money it's always in a company's own best interests to stay private for as long as possible.

Re: Stripe valued at $159B, 2025 annual letter

#34

Post by tyre »

jameskilton wrote: post #14
fourseventy wrote: post #2

It's insane that they aren't public yet. Their investors must be pressuring them like crazy to IPO.

Stripe has been doing annual tender offers. Their stance on not being public yet is that they don't need to be, as an IPO is mainly a way to raise money. As an ex-Stripe, I understand the sentiment, and the tender offers are a nice middle ground for now, but I still would like to see them go public eventually.

I hope they never go public (also as an ex-Stripe!)

I can't really see a net-positive benefit to having public shareholders and reporting requirements. Do we think Stripe's leadership needs feedback from random investment advisors or analysts? Do employees need the distraction of daily-updating stock prices? Would quarterly reporting incentivize better decision making?

In my opinion: ehhhhhhhhhhhh

I see the benefit, but if you're joining Stripe you know the trade-off of RSUs in a company that doesn't provide daily liquidity. They provide it on a regular basis, so you're not locked in forever (a la my 2014 Gusto shares).

Re: Stripe valued at $159B, 2025 annual letter

#35

Post by shevy-java »

> Businesses running on Stripe generated $1.9 trillion in total volume

I think we hackers in general also need to have a value assigned. Even open source authors generate real value but right now I see an imbalance as to who makes money and who does not. I'd even almost go as far as say that taxes (a state gathers) should go to a certain percentage value back to the open source community. There are a lot of details missing here, of course, but from a core view this only seems fair.

I'l also never forget Bill Gates anti-open source letter. That should instantly yield a 99.999% extra tax on him.

Re: Stripe valued at $159B, 2025 annual letter

#36

Post by shevy-java »

armadyl wrote: post #22
jameskilton wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Stripe has been doing annual tender offers. Their stance on not being public yet is that they don't need to be, as an IPO is mainly a way to raise money. As an ex-Stripe, I understand the sentiment, and the tender offers are a nice middle ground for now, but I still would like to see them go public eventually.

> As an ex-Stripe, I understand the sentiment, and the tender offers are a nice middle ground for now, but I still would like to see them go public eventually. This is an incredibly odd sentiment, imo. What’s the desire to see them go public unless you personally are profiting from it? Going public would quickly set Stripe on a pathway to potential enshittification and at minimum starting to squeeze the consumers and…

There may be a conflict of interest with ex-Stripe folks wanting to see a move towards x or y.

Re: Stripe valued at $159B, 2025 annual letter

#37

Post by mattas »

fourseventy wrote: post #2

It's insane that they aren't public yet. Their investors must be pressuring them like crazy to IPO.

I wonder if there will be a class of VC that intends to provide LPs with income in addition to capital appreciation. If it doesn't make sense to go public, then focus on cash flow and kick of steady income to investors.

Re: Stripe valued at $159B, 2025 annual letter

#38

Post by gmd63 »

kibwen wrote: post #18
cwbrandsma wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IPOs also kill a lot of companies. Now you have a new list of investors you are obligated to attend to, and what those investors what is not always to make your company more successful, if it can make more money now.

Not just the IPO. Being public at all subjects you to the perverse and destructive incentive of needing to maximize shareholder value. Just because some private companies take VC funding (and subject themselves to analogous forces) doesn't mean that's required or expected.

Needing to maximize shareholder value is a myth. There is no law that requires you to do that - people like to use the idea as an excuse to do scummy business.
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