It’s official: Online file-sharing firm Box is going public. (We warned you it was in the works.) The offering is just the latest in a slate of tech IPOs that have become one of the hottest areas of financial markets.
Here are some key quotes and numbers from the SEC filing:
- The shares will trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the proposed ticker symbol BOX.
- The cloud storage company is expected to raise $250 million in its initial public offering, but could wind up raising more depending on demand, sources have told Quartz.
- The company intends to spend the money it raises in the public offering on working capital, capital expenditures, and corporate expenses.
- Last year the company had $124.2 million in revenue, more than double the previous year.
- The company also had a $169.9 million net loss in 2013; that’s 50% worse than the previous year.
- “We have a history of cumulative losses, and we do not expect to be profitable for the foreseeable future.”
- Box’s IPO papers show that it has eight banks participating in its offering, with Morgan Stanley in the lead.
- In the year ending Jan. 31, 2014, Box employed 972 people, up 163% from the previous year.
- Box lists Dropbox, Google, EMC, Microsoft, and Citrix Systems among its staunchest competitors in the fragmented world of cloud storage firms.
- “Many of our competitors and potential competitors are larger and have greater name recognition, much longer operating histories, larger marketing budgets and significantly greater resources than we do.”
- The IPO will be a dual-class offering. In other words, the shares Box will be offering will have only one shareholder vote per share. The Class B shares—owned by company insiders before the Box goes public—will have 10 votes per share. Since the Facebook IPO, the dual-class offerings have been a popular way for Silicon Valley entrepreneurs to raise money without giving up control, but Twitter notably eschewed that approach.
- Box CEO Aaron Levie just tweeted this: