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☆ Klaviyo Hires Bankers, Plans for Late 2023 IPO
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-03 | by ( Laura Cooper | Corrie Driebusch | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Marketing-automation platform Klaviyo Inc. plans to list its shares publicly, according to people familiar with the matter, a sign of life in an otherwise lackluster IPO market. Klaviyo, which was valued at $9.5 billion in a funding round in 2021, has tapped Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to be lead underwriter for the listing, which could take place as early as September, the people said.

Silicon Valley Bank executives went to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. in late February looking for advice: They needed to raise money but weren’t exactly sure how to do it. Soaring interest rates had taken a heavy toll on the bank. Deposits and the value of the bank’s bond portfolio had fallen sharply. Moody’s Investors Service was preparing for a downgrade. The bank had to reset its finances to avoid a funding squeeze that would badly dent profits.

Shares of SVB Financial, parent of Silicon Valley Bank, have declined sharply. SVB Financial Group is seeking a buyer after the beleaguered Silicon Valley lender scrapped a plan to shore up its finances through a capital raise, according to people familiar with the matter. Facing widespread customer withdrawals that have raised questions about its ability to stay in business, the bank’s shares have declined sharply since Thursday, falling as much as 68% in premarket trading before the stock was halted.

Silicon Valley Bank collapsed Friday in the second-biggest bank failure in U.S. history after a run on deposits doomed the tech-focused lender’s plans to raise fresh capital. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said it has taken control of the bank via a new entity it created called the Deposit Insurance National Bank of Santa Clara. All of the bank’s deposits have been transferred to the new bank, the regulator said.

☆ Burger King Owner, Others Sell Shares Rapidly in Hopeful Sign for IPOs
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( Corrie Driebusch | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Burger King’s parent is among the companies that benefited from rising share prices. A string of recent big stock sales by public companies is boosting confidence among bankers and investors that the drought in IPOs may finally be easing. More than 50 publicly traded companies in the U.S. raised a total of roughly $7.4 billion for themselves or shareholders in February, compared with 23 raising $1.8 billion in the same month last year, Dealogic data show. (That is still far lower than in the prior share-sale boom, when 150 companies raised $32 billion in February 2021.)

☆ Retail worker quits are on the rise again even as workers in other industries increasingly try to hold onto their jobs
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( Dominick Reuter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

US workers are quitting their jobs less frequently than last year, but retail quits are trending up. The increase is surprising in part because major retailers are spending big money to keep workers. More quits are likely to further escalate a "labor hoarding" war among brands like Walmart, Home Depot, and Kroger. Long known for having some of the lowest wages around, retail workers collectively have seen their pay increase more since 2019 than almost any other group. With nearly two job openings per unemployed worker, rising quits in retail are likely to further escalate the ongoing labor hoarding war among major employers.

☆ Walmart, Target, Kroger, and more major retailers go head-to-head in an escalating 'labor hoarding' war over hourly employees
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-04 | by ( Dominick Reuter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

As companies of all stripes tighten their budgets, retailers are still spending big on hourly workers. Big hourly wage increases of the past three years are here to stay, and more are in the works. Kroger is the latest to join other major brands like Walmart and Target in the "labor hoarding" war. There's a quiet war being waged among America's largest retailers, and the winner might be the previously under-appreciated hourly worker. In January Walmart announced it would increase its minimum wage from $12 to $14 per hour, bringing the US average hourly wage up to $17.50.

A part-time worker for Instacart filled customer orders in New Jersey last year. Instacart Inc. generated sharply higher sales and profit in the fourth quarter, according to people familiar with the matter and an internal memo, as the company prepares for its highly anticipated initial public offering of stock. The grocery-delivery company told employees on Tuesday that its revenue increased more than 50% in the fourth quarter, compared with the same period a year earlier, while gross profit rose more than 80%, according to a memo viewed by The Wall Street Journal.

☆ Going Private Again Is All the Rage Among Newly Public Companies
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-19 | by ( Corrie Driebusch | Laura Cooper | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

A growing number of newly public companies are racing back to private ownership after discovering that an IPO isn’t always all it’s cracked up to be. Of the hundreds of companies that went public in the boom years of 2020 and 2021, 10 have already agreed to sell themselves to private-equity firms, according to Dealogic. Of those that went public in 2018 or 2019, only eight have gone private in the ensuing years.

☆ Panera Among Restaurant Companies Looking to Test IPO Demand
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-06 | by ( Corrie Driebusch | Heather Haddon | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

More restaurant companies are aiming to test investors’ demand for new listings after the sector weathered the Covid-19 pandemic and as dining sales have largely held up so far this year. Fogo Hospitality Inc., the parent company of a Brazilian-style steakhouse chain, is aiming for an initial public offering as early as spring, according to people familiar with the matter. Other restaurant companies including Panera Brands Inc. and Cava Group Inc., the parent company of a Mediterranean chain, are aiming for an offering in the first half of the year as long as markets keep improving, according to people briefed on the plans.

☆ An Advocate for Managing Startups Differently Gets New Advice
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-04 | by ( Corrie Driebusch | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

In Personal Board of Directors, top business leaders talk about the people they turn to for advice, and how those people have shaped their perspective and helped them succeed. Previous installments from the series are here. Eric Ries has spent the past two decades as a go-to mentor in Silicon Valley and the founder of a David-size stock exchange trying to take on twin Goliaths: Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange. But a “humiliating” startup failure at age 20 almost took him out of the game entirely.

☆ Stripe Sets One-Year Timetable to Decide on Going Public
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Peter Rudegeair | Corrie Driebusch | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Stripe’s last fundraising nearly two years ago valued the company at $95 billion. Stripe Inc. , one of Silicon Valley’s most valuable startups, is moving closer to what could be one of the biggest public-market debuts in recent memory. Stripe co-founders Patrick and John Collison told employees Thursday that executives set a goal of either taking the company public or allowing employees to sell shares in a private-market transaction within the next 12 months, according to people familiar with the matter.

☆ S&P 500 Jumps After Three Days of Losses
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-21 | by ( Chelsey Dulaney | Corrie Driebusch | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Stocks rose Friday, boosted by some solid corporate earnings, though two major indexes finished the week with losses after being weighed down by concerns about a slowing economy. The S&P 500 index rose 73.76 points, or 1.9%, to 3972.61, its first up day after three days of declines. The Nasdaq Composite gained 288.17 points, or 2.7%, to 11140.43, led higher by shares of Netflix and Alphabet. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 330.93 points, or 1%, to 33375.49.

☆ Coinbase Leaders Sharply Slow Their Stock Sales
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( Corrie Driebusch | Tom Mcginty | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Share sales by Coinbase Global Inc. officials fell sharply in 2022 along with the crypto exchange’s stock price. Co-founder and Chief Executive Brian Armstrong has pocketed $4 million since November from selling shares, according to an analysis of regulatory filings.

☆ As Rest of IPO Market Stalls, Corporate Carve-Outs Gain Steam
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-06 | by ( Corrie Driebusch | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Goldman Sachs is one of the banks leading the planned IPO of J&J’s consumer-health business. The U.S. initial public offering market’s acute slowdown is creating space for deals commonly known on Wall Street as corporate carve-outs. Traditional initial public offerings in the U.S. last year raised the smallest amount in at least two decades, according to Dealogic. Three of the biggest deals of the year were carve-outs—companies spun out from parents, using a standard IPO sale rather than the stock distribution that often occurs in what is known as a spinoff.

☆ Oatly, Other Deflated IPO Stocks Haunt New-Issue Market
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( Corrie Driebusch | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Hundreds of companies that went public when the market for initial public offerings was booming have suffered such sharp reversals that they now face a stark reality: Their shares may never recover. More than one in four of the nearly 600 companies that went public via a traditional IPO in 2020 or 2021—including oat-milk maker Oatly Group AB and online lender loanDepot Inc.—traded at less than $2 a share as of Friday’s market close, according to Dealogic data. Many companies that went public in the surge of mergers involving SPACs, or special-purpose acquisition companies, also are faring poorly.

☆ Dow Falls More Than 700 Points on Interest-Rate Expectations
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Corrie Driebusch | Caitlin Ostroff | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

U.S. stock losses deepened Thursday, after central bank officials on both sides of the Atlantic signaled they have more work to do to tame inflation and a batch of fresh data heightened recession fears. The major U.S. stock indexes started the week higher, then fell Wednesday when the Federal Reserve raised rates by half a percentage point. What spooked investors wasn’t the rate increase, which was widely expected, but that the Fed raised its estimates of how high rates may ultimately have to go.

☆ Cash-Hungry Companies Get Creative Raising Capital
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-02 | by ( Corrie Driebusch | Laura Cooper | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The end of the era of easy money is forcing companies that need cash to get creative. Dozens of companies have recently raised money through so-called structured private funding rounds, and bankers and lawyers say there are many more in the works.

☆ Dow Jumps More Than 800 Points as Apple Gains 7.6%
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-28 | by ( Chelsey Dulaney | Corrie Driebusch | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

U.S. stocks rose Friday, with big gains by Apple helping offset declines among consumer discretionary stocks weighed down by a sales warning from e-commerce giant Amazon . The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index rose 309.78 points, or 2.9%, to 11102.45, bouncing back after two days of declines. The S&P 500 added 93.76 points, or 2.5%, to 3901.06 while the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 828.52 points, or 2.6%, to 32861.80. All three indexes finished the week with gains, with the Dow industrials’ recent run-up putting it down less than 10% year-to-date.

☆ Dow Jumps More Than 700 Points as Investors Weigh Earnings
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-28 | by ( Chelsey Dulaney | Corrie Driebusch | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

U.S. stocks rose Friday, with big gains by Apple helping offset declines among consumer discretionary stocks weighed down by a sales warning from e-commerce giant Amazon . The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index rose 2.3%, bouncing back after two days of declines. The S&P 500 added 2%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 2.3%, or 735 points. All three indexes are on track for solid weekly gains, with the Dow industrials’ recent run-up putting it down less than 10% year-to-date.

☆ Mobileye Shares Open Higher in Stock-Market Debut
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-26 | by ( Corrie Driebusch | Tim Higgins | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Shares of Mobileye Global rose 27% out of the gate in their trading debut, in one of the highest-profile and largest initial public offerings of the year. Intel automated car-driving unit initially traded at $26.71, above its IPO price of $21 a share. That gives Mobileye a valuation of more than $21 billion. The stock opened on the Nasdaq stock market a little before midday Wednesday, trading under the symbol MBLY. More than 3.5 million shares changed hands in the opening trade.

☆ Mobileye Shares Open Higher In Stock-Market Debut
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-26 | by ( Corrie Driebusch | Tim Higgins | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

☆ Mobileye Shares Close Higher in Stock-Market Debut
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-26 | by ( Corrie Driebusch | Tim Higgins | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Shares of Mobileye Global rose 38% in their trading debut, providing a rare bright spot for an IPO market that is having its worst year in memory. Intel automated car-driving unit closed at $28.97, above its initial public offering price of $21 a share, giving Mobileye a valuation of roughly $23 billion. The stock opened on the Nasdaq Stock Market a little before midday Wednesday, trading under the symbol MBLY.

☆ Intel Prices Widely Anticipated IPO for Self-Driving Car Unit Mobileye
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-25 | by ( Corrie Driebusch | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Mobileye is set to start trading Wednesday on the Nasdaq stock exchange under the symbol MBLY. Intel self-driving car unit Mobileye Global priced its initial public offering at $21 a share, a dollar above the top of its targeted range, according to people close to the deal. Mobileye raised $861 million by selling 41 million shares, valuing the company at roughly $17 billion, the people said. That is more than the $15.3 billion Intel paid for the Mobileye in 2017 but a far cry from the $50 billion or more that the chip giant originally set its sights on when it unveiled plans for the listing late last year.

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