Re:It's Time to Stop Taking Sam Altman at His Word
by throwup238 on Saturday October 05, 2024 @02:38PM
(#41751949)
Agreed. These liquidity events are a way to retain and reward early employees while allowing the founders to recover their personal finances and buckle down for the growth phase.
Re:It's Time to Stop Taking Sam Altman at His Word
by lotsofpulp on Saturday October 05, 2024 @01:13PM
(#41751332)
> In a world context where the largest companies are more likely to stay private than IPO
Which world is this?
Re:It's Time to Stop Taking Sam Altman at His Word
by dash2 on Saturday October 05, 2024 @01:39PM
(#41751518)
From a Scottish Mortgage report: "companies are staying private for longer and until higher valuations".
Amazon founded in 1994
1997 listed at $400m
Google founded in 1998
2004 listed at $23bn
Spotify founded in 2006
2018 listed at $27bn
Airbnb founded in 2008
2020 listed at $47bn
Epic games founded in 1991
2022 unlisted value $32bn
Space Exploration founded in 2002
2022 unlisted value $125bn
ByteDance founded in 2012
2022 unlisted value $360bn
Re:It's Time to Stop Taking Sam Altman at His Word
by lotsofpulp on Saturday October 05, 2024 @01:46PM
(#41751571)
The only unlisted business there that could be considered among “the largest” is ByteDance. But they have a whole China thing going on, so not very representative of US/European markets.
I doubt any competitor to the largest businesses in US//Europe that is actually putting up good audited numbers is staying private. Even Stripe has been trying to go public, but it doesn’t have the numbers for the owners to want to yet.
Re:It's Time to Stop Taking Sam Altman at His Word
by manquer on Saturday October 05, 2024 @02:51PM
(#41752018)
SpaceX hasn’t tried to go public , arguably being private has helped them ability to raise a lot of money from investors is key to their successes.
Their kind of product development [1] needs a long term thinking which public markets will not not support well
[1] ignore all the mars noise, just consider reusable i.e. cheap rockets and starlink
Re:It's Time to Stop Taking Sam Altman at His Word
by agentcoops on Sunday October 06, 2024 @02:20PM
(#41758947)
It’s never just about the company’s numbers, but the financial environment. When interest rates come down enough to tempt investors out of the money market, you’re likely to see a new wave of IPOs.
Re:It's Time to Stop Taking Sam Altman at His Word
by financetechbro on Saturday October 05, 2024 @02:22PM
(#41751817)
Agreed. OP is crossing some wires. More companies are staying private right now (not by choice). Not necessarily or only the “largest companies”
At about the ten year mark, there has to be a changing of the guards from the foot soldiers who give their all that an unlikely institution could come to exist in the world at scale to people concerned more with stabilizing that institution and ensuring its continuity. In almost every company that has reached such scale in the last decade, this has often meant a transition from an executive team formed of early employees to a more senior C-team from elsewhere with a different skillset. In a world context where the largest companies are more likely to stay private than IPO, it's a profoundly important move to allow some liquidity for longterm employees, who otherwise might be forced to stay working at the company long past physical burnout.