Poshmark entered public markets at $42 per share in its IPO and its debut valued the company at more than $3 billion. The proposed transaction’s roughly $1.2 billion enterprise value therefore resets the company’s valuation against its public-market starting point.
Naver’s related coverage centers on its Zepeto avatar platform, while Poshmark was previously described as an online clothes-resale marketplace. The deal would put those consumer-internet properties under the same corporate owner.
First-order effects
Poshmark shareholders receive a $17.90-per-share proposed exit, and the stock’s more-than-10% rise narrows the gap to that offer price.
Naver becomes the prospective owner of Poshmark rather than merely an outside platform operator.
A completed deal would move Poshmark’s operating decisions from public shareholders to Naver, removing its standalone public equity as a market-priced asset.
Third-order effects
If completed, the transaction extends the pattern of consumer internet businesses moving from public-market ownership to strategic owners after valuations reset from their listing highs.
The trend: The proposed acquisition is a data point in strategic buyers using valuation resets to add established consumer-platform assets.
Poshmark IPOed for $3B last year and is getting acquired for less than half that $1.2B. It really puts the excellence of Figma in context to consider its valuation doubled from $10B to $20B over the same period. https://techcrunch.com/...
Will be interesting to see if this is a new trend - non-US buyers acquiring US tech businesses - at least in part as a response to the FTC's pre-disposition to challenge US-US tech acquisitions. https://twitter.com/...
It IPOed at 3.5 billion and ended first day of trading at over 7 billion in January of 2021 Every consumer IPO of past 2-3 years after a decade of existence as private company has made retail bag holders That's the strongest case for going public sooner https://techcrunch.com/...
Today marks a significant milestone as we shape the future of shopping and serve our growing community. We have entered into an agreement to be acquired by @official_naver, Korea's largest internet company. Learn more here: https://www.businesswire.com/ ... https://twitter.com/..…
More on Poshmark/Naver: Two sides first met 9 months ago. First discussed strategic partnership. No bank auction. Naver not worried about CFIUS review. https://www.axios.com/...