Etsy Filed an IPO on the Nasdaq Today

[kritter]

Just saw this on Wall Street report....



Etsy Inc., an online marketplace for crafts and vintage goods, has filed for an initial public offering, according to a regulatory filing on Wednesday.

The Brooklyn-based company, which counts Union Square Ventures among its investors, filed for an IPO of up to $100 million. That figure, used to calculate registration fees, is likely to change.

Etsy has applied to list on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker symbol “ETSY.”

Founded in 2005, Etsy said it had 54 million members as of Dec. 31, including 1.4 million active sellers and 19.8 million active buyers.

It reported a loss of $15.2 million on $195.6 million in revenue in 2014, up from a loss of $796 million on $125 million in revenue a year earlier.

[Deleted]

Interesting. I never kept up with the company itself. Kinda surprised to hear that they've been unprofitable.

[kritter]

I don't keep up with them either but they were on an article of 11 stocks whose bubble has burst.

Alibaba was another one.....

Alibaba

The much-ballyhooed IPO of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba priced at the high end of expectations at $68 a share.

The stock BABA, +0.01% jumped 38% on opening day to close at $93.89 on Sept. 19, 2014. It peaked on Nov. 10 at $119.15, or 75% above the IPO price. Less than four months later, the stock tumbled as much 4.7% in intraday trade Tuesday to hit a lowest-ever price of $80.03, which was 33% below its November peak.

On Tuesday, Alibaba founder Jack Ma promised full cooperation with the Taiwanese government, which asked the company to leave the country because of concerns over its Chinese ownership.

[val2525]

Oh joy. Be prepared for etsy to follow eBay on the downhill slope now.

They're going to be more concerned about Wall Street than buyers/sellers. If history is any indicator.

[Deleted]

Val, that was my first thought, too. I haven't had any luck on etsy, although I haven't put enough effort into it either. After reading about all the Chinese sellers infiltrating and now this, it sounds like a business plan with which we're all too familiar.

kritter, again, I don't follow business news much, but I was surprised to read what you wrote about Alibaba, too. With all the hype when they went public, I thought they were going to be the second coming or something.

[Deleted]

Etsy doesn't appear to be financially healthy. They're going to have to do something to turn it around, which means opening the door wider for different markets. Maybe a true ebay alternative?

I was reading through one of their forums and the sellers are already grumbling that it's no longer a place for personal handmade merchandise. The big sellers are taking over with the mass produced stuff.

[kritter]

It looks like they were hemorrhaging money so their only option may have been to go public to get an infusion of cash or go broke.

IMO, They will definitely have to change their handmade business model. Having a site that sells personal handmade items is nice but how many of today's buyers are looking to buy personal handmade items. Apparently there are not enough to have kept Etsy going without widening their selling base.

I think they are going to have to spend a bunch of that money to get the same name recognition that ebay has. Look how long Bonanza has been around and still the average online buyer has no clue about them.

[Deleted]

Exactly, Kritters.

I never think to search Bonanza or any of the other sites (except Amazon) even though they're mentioned all the time in the forums.

I don't purchase many personal handmade items. It's more of a gift thing and not regular everyday purchases. I'd rather shop the Fair Trade sites such as Novica.