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Square Files Confidential IPO

wsj.com

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Re: Square Files Confidential IPO

#11

Post by jackgavigan »

> "..spawning copycats like PayPal’s Here card-swiping device and similar systems from Amazon.com Inc. and Intuit Inc."

Actually, Intuit came up with the idea for using mobile phones to accept card payments in 2007. They ran trials in the Bay Area in summer 2008, launched GoPayment properly in early 2009 (with a Bluetooth reader supporting various feature phones), and launched an iPhone app in August 2009. Inner fence had already created a card terminal app for the iPhone in late 2008 (albeit without a reader device).

Square announced their card reader in December 2009 and didn't actually launch until the following May.

Re: Square Files Confidential IPO

#12

Post by chkuendig »

Can anybody explain why a company would want to file for an IPO in confidentiality?

Wouldn't it be in the best interest of the company to get some PR going before the roadshow starts?

Unless they just want to test the waters and intend to pull the IPO in case they wont get the valuation they hoped for... (which again would be a terrible signal for potential IPO investors)

Re: Square Files Confidential IPO

#14

Post by dmurray »

chkuendig wrote: post #12

Can anybody explain why a company would want to file for an IPO in confidentiality? Wouldn't it be in the best interest of the company to get some PR going before the roadshow starts? Unless they just want to test the waters and intend to pull the IPO in case they wont get the valuation they hoped for... (which again would be a terrible signal for potential IPO investors)

They don't have to publish all of their financials just yet. With the confidential IPO process, they can send in their mostly-correct figures and go through some back-and-forth with the SEC to ensure they are reporting earnings etc in a manner that satisfies the SEC. If they disclosed their figures publicly, as larger companies going public are required to do, they risk a backlash from investors or the media when they later revise their figures, even if due to an honest mistake. Keeping their figures secret from competitors, suppliers and customers for as long as possible is also a competitive advantage.

Re: Square Files Confidential IPO

#17

Post by narrowrail »

toblender wrote: post #10

Does anyone know where to find IPO dates? I can't seem to find the day that the IPO will take place. In this case they didn't fully finish their filing, but other ones such as BOX, I didn't find out about the IPO until the actual day.

In order to participate in an IPO, one must be a customer of one of the underwriting banks (special exceptions may exist), these banks would let you know of the exact dates as they become firm. One cannot determine exact dates just from an S-1 filing, as the companies still have to go through their whole roadshow/ investor wooing period. If you want to see the SEC's list of companies that intend to go public, it's on their site:

http://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?company=&CIK=&type=s...

Re: Square Files Confidential IPO

#18

Post by adventured »

hooo wrote: post #16

That must mean they had trouble raising more privately!

They may also be hoping to ride PayPal's rich valuation.

With investors awarding such extreme valuations to Facebook, Netflix, Amazon, Twitter, PayPal, LinkedIn - Square might just think they can land a $10+ billion public value.

Re: Square Files Confidential IPO

#19

Post by ChuckMcM »

dylanjermiah wrote: post #9
iiiggglll wrote: post #5

Housing is about to get even more expensive in SF...

How so?

Many times, when a bay area company IPOs, a number of people suddenly have a lot of now liquid wealth. (well depending on lock outs in 90 - 180 days) It is not uncommon for those people to want to get off the rent/mortgage treadmill and they will convert their stock into a house because stocks go up and down, but buying a house for cash means you always have a nice place to come home to. And that drives up prices as houses are already scarce.
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