Box reportedly delaying IPO due to market conditions

Steven Loeb · May 1, 2014 · Short URL: https://vator.tv/n/36a7

After other cloud companies lose value, Box might not go public until June

(Updated with comment from Box)

hen Box revealed that it had filed for an IPO back in March, that meant that the company would be eligible to go public as early as April.

Well... as you may have noticed, April has come and gone and there is still no Box on the public market. And it may stay that was for at least a few more months.

Box could be delaying its public offering until at least June, according to what sources told the Wall Street Journal on Thursday. In fact, no timetable has even been set.

The problem: the market has been hitting other public cloud software companies, including Workday, Veeva Systems and Xero. Workday's stock is down 25%, while Veeva has fallen by 36%.

According to Bessemer Venture Partners, which happens to be an investor in Box, the stocks of the 37 cloud companies it indexes fell 26% in just six weeks, giving up all their gains for the year.

So, its no wonder that Box wouldn't want to enter the market under those conditions. The question now is, when will the market conditions finally be right for Box?

"Our IPO has never had a set date. Since filing, we've planned on going when it makes the most sense for the market. That plan hasn't changed," a Box spokesperson tells VatorNews.

The Box IPO

The company revealed in its S-1 that it is looking to raise $250 million in its offering, and that it will list as "Box" on the New York Stock Exchange.

The company more than doubled its revenue, ending the fiscal year on January 31, 2014 with $124 million, up from $58.8 million the year before. At the same time, the company saw a net loss of $168.6 million for the same 12-month period, up from a loss of $112.6 million for the year prior.

Those losses are primarily being driven by Box's sales and marketing expenses, which added up to over $171 million last year, up from $99 million in 2012. That is nearly four times as much as it spent on its next highest expense: research and development, which only cost the company $45 million.

Overall, Box has now a total accumulated deficit of $361.2 million.

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