Pinterest, the image search company, is now gearing up to launch its initial public offering in the middle part of April, earlier than it previously planned.
Aiming to take advantage of high demand for IPOs, people familiar with the matter told The Wall Street Journal that Pinterest could make its IPO filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission later Friday (March 22) with the shares listing on the New York Stock Exchange by the middle of April. The timing could change, noted the report.
Pinterest Chief Executive Ben Silbermann has been meeting with investors in recent weeks both in New York and London but hasn’t launched a formal road show yet. That’s expected to happen in April. It will likely beat Uber to the market. The initial public offering by Uber is expected to one of the biggest IPOs ever and is slated for the end of April. In the meeting with investors, Silbermann positions Pinterest as an alternative to Facebook and Google, which have run into trouble because of data breaches, inflammatory content and the sharing of data without users’ consent.
Pinterest is expected to launch its IPO with a dual-class structure in which some investors will get more votes per share. Insiders at the company, including its CEO, will only be able to keep supervoting shares for a set period of time if they continue to hold a predetermined amount of shares and stay with the company. It applies to executives, noted the report.
With the IPO market drawing a lot of interest, Pinterest is quickening its pace to take advantage of that. Thursday (March 21) Levi Strauss went public and its shares jumped nearly 32 percent in the first day of trading. Lyft, the ride-sharing startup, is expected to list next week. It’s looking for a $21 billion to $23 billion valuation, noted The Wall Street Journal. Add Uber Technologies and Slack Technologies to the list of IPOs this year, and 2019 is shaping up to be a red-hot IPO market.