Now we will find out whether that positioning is enough to help it avoid the curse of social media companies that go public.
In its IPO prospectus, Pinterest said it now has more than 250 million monthly active users, less than Twitter’s 321 million monthly users and barely a tenth of Facebook’s audience size. Unlike Facebook, Snap and Twitter, Pinterest chose not to disclose its number of daily active users and said that it does “not anticipate that most of our users” will use the service on a daily basis.
“I think it’s got a compelling case for saying it’s not a social media company,” said Matthew Kennedy, an analyst with Renaissance Capital, which manages IPO-focused exchange-traded funds. But he says investors will nonetheless judge the company by “the same things that other social media companies need to do.”
The short list, Kennedy said, includes proving it can grow its user base, make more and more money off those users, and “in the process be profitable.”
“It’s not a move fast and break things type of culture,” said Danny Karubian, a partner at Valiant Capital, which led a $200 million round of funding in 2013. Instead, he described the leadership’s approach as “be very thoughtful and strategic about each action you take.”
Karubian told CNN Business this week he believes Silbermann will “continue with that sort of philosophy and culture” after Pinterest goes public.
Pinterest’s initial traction on Wall Street may be viewed as a bellwether for the growing list of tech unicorns that are racing to go public. Uber, Slack and Postmates have also filed paperwork to go public.
Zoom, a video conferencing company, spiked more than 70% in its public market debut Thursday, after pricing shares above its original proposed range at $36 each on Wednesday. Unlike most of the other brand name technology companies going public this year, Zoom is profitable and still growing sales fast.
Source : CNN