logoalt Hacker News

fourseventytoday at 4:25 PM14 repliesview on HN

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


Replies

jameskiltontoday at 4:44 PM

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.

show 7 replies
baxtrtoday at 4:37 PM

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.

show 6 replies
rf15today at 4:27 PM

Why ask for IPO to dillute the effective investor pool if you are already making a ton of money consistently?

show 1 reply
jamesontoday at 4:34 PM

Everything's public appearance until S1 is filed

mercweartoday at 4:29 PM

I hope they hold off - going public tends to kill innovation and replace it with bureaucracy

show 1 reply
cmiles8today at 5:49 PM

The markets are skeptical at the moment. A bunch of tech IPOs in the last few years have tanked 70+% since the IPO and that can be devastating to a company.

Also there’s a ton of overhead associated with being public that nobody really wants to do so companies now stay private as long as they can get away with.

mattastoday at 4:58 PM

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.

show 1 reply
pewpewptoday at 5:59 PM

How do you ruin a good company? Simple. Go public

ndrtoday at 4:28 PM

Will they ever have to go public? I imagine there's a way they can buy everything back.

paxystoday at 5:15 PM

Investors can pressure you when you are worth single digit or low double digit billions. At $100B+ you are calling the shots, and if investors aren't happy they can sell their shares in the next tender offer.

StopDisinfo910today at 6:12 PM

The cynic in me thinks they don't want to crash their valuation.

gamblor956today at 4:42 PM

Companies that keep delaying going public generally do so to keep hidden unfavorable data.

Private companies can say whatever they want about their performance as long as they don't lie to their own investors; public companies can't.

show 1 reply
doctorpanglosstoday at 6:33 PM

why do you figure? in some sectors, IPOs were literally 10x larger in 2023 than 2016, but i am not sure specifically about fintech. ask pitchbook. that increases IRR by a whole +1.4, just by waiting.

stefan_today at 5:08 PM

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).