Box joins flood of tech firms listing stock with $250m float
ONLINE storage site Box last night announced its intention to float on the New York Stock Exchange.
The cloud-based business wants to raise $250m (£151.5m) in the initial public offering (IPO).
Box has more than 25m registered users and 34,000 paying organisations, and its revenues are soaring – it brought in $124.2m in the 12 months to 31 January, more than double the $58.8m in the previous year.
In 2011 its revenues were just $21.1m.
However, its losses are also rising. Box lost $168.6m in the last year, up from $112.6m in the previous year and $50.3m the year before.
Founder, chairman and chief executive Aaron Levie set up the firm in 2005 after dropping out of college
Last year Levie was paid more than $2m in salary, options and incentive plan payments.
Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse and JP Morgan are leading the offering and underwriting the share issuance.
Canaccord Genuity, Pacific Crest Securities, Raymond James and Wells Fargo are also working on the deal.
The biggest shareholder is venture capital fund Draper Fisher Jurvetson, which owns 25.5 per cent of Box.
Next is US Venture Partners IX with 13 per cent, then entities affiliated with private equity group General Atlantic with 8.4 per cent.
Levie himself currently owns a 4.1 per cent stake.