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Stripe valued at $159B, 2025 annual letter

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

#51

Post by malfist »

gmd63 wrote: post #38
kibwen wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Sure, it's a dubious legal requirement at best. But you try telling people that on an earnings call and watch your valuation plummet because you took a long position and the market wanted a next quarter position. And even if you don't care about selling your stock personally, it does impact your ability to raise funds.

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

#52

Post by bryanlarsen »

tyre wrote: post #34
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.

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,…

I'm sure they already have more than the 500 non-accredited or 2000 accredited shareholder total that would trigger most of those reporting requirements anyways. So Stripe already has most of the drawbacks of being a public company without the benefits.

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

#53

Post by jonas21 »

colesantiago wrote: post #17

Private markets is where the wealth is (if you invested at the bottom), as soon as Stripe goes public you're getting dumped on. Unfortunately you need to be an accredited investor to access these markets. This is the real gatekeeping here as rich pop stars, actors, sports stars and musicians who aren't versed in tech has more access to investing in these private companies than the academics, students in europe creati…

If you don't meet the financial requirement ($200K annual income or $1M net worth), you can also qualify as an accredited investor by passing the Series 65 exam and filing a form with the SEC.

So you have to prove that either you can afford to lose some money or you have enough investing knowledge to know what you're getting into. Seems fair.

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

#54

Post by atonse »

shevy-java wrote: post #35

> 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 m…

If a maintainer has chosen to open source and use a permissive license (key word chosen, this isn't a default), they are explicitly saying via their license that they are not charging for the use of the code. What's the issue here?

If a maintainer wants to make money directly from their code, they are free to charge for it, or for services around it (examples: Sidekiq, Oban, Tailwind, not to mention large examples like RedHat or Ubuntu).

Everyone involved is making informed choices.

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

#55

Post by coldpie »

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.

Going public is the fastest way to turn a solid, functioning business into a hideous, infinite-growth chasing ghoul that everyone hates. Don't do it.

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

#56

Post by stefan_ »

fourseventy wrote: post #2

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

Might be too late already, seeing how we are well past "peak SaaS" (and frankly Stripe have slowed down and lost a lot of the glitter in years past).

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

#57

Post by [deleted] »

mattas wrote: post #37
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.

[deleted]

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

#58

Post by arcticbull »

gmd63 wrote: post #38
kibwen wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Depends. In Michigan it is binding precedent, see Dodge v. Ford (1919).

Delaware corporations must act in the interests of shareholders.

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

#59

Post by onion2k »

skybrian wrote: post #50
onion2k wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Even for good investments, investors will want to sell at some point rather than owning an investment forever, if only to diversify.

Sure, at some point. Maybe that isn't now though.

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

#60

Post by sej1 »

fastball wrote: post #39
throwaw12 wrote: post #26

Congratulations. But how is it 5x bigger than Adyen, which had 2.3B revenue and 1B earnings in 2025?

It is not 5x bigger, it is 5x more valuable. Obviously Stripes 2x higher revenue is part of that equation, but not all of it.

Also Adyen's processing volume grew just 8% (to $1.6T usd) in 2025, while Stripe's grew 34% (to $1.9T usd).

Stripe's bigger _and_ growing faster.

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