Alfred Lee
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Past articles by Alfred:
Is WeWork Worth $47 Billion? Not Even Close, Say Some Investors —
Office space firm WeWork, which could be the next big test of the IPO market, is often called a $47 billion company. But investors lately have signaled they think WeWork is worth only about half of that, as questions mount about whether the tech-fueled real estate startup can sustain its ... → Read More
Question for Slack: When Will Investors Cash In on Gains? —
The biggest venture capital shareholders in messaging firm Slack stand to make billions of dollars when the company goes public on Thursday. One of the big questions surrounding the listing is how fast the VCs, who as a group own a majority of the stock, will want to lock in those gains by ... → Read More
What to Watch For When Slack Goes Public —
Slack is set to be Silicon Valley’s next big debut on the stock market, with plans to go public on Thursday. The start of public trading, through a rare direct listing in which no new shares are sold, will test investors’ confidence in the messaging firm’s growth potential. Already, there are ... → Read More
Slack Listing Will Test Wall Street Demand for Software Stocks —
Slack’s planned public listing later this month will be the next big test of Wall Street’s demand for tech stocks. Recent IPOs, of Uber and Lyft in particular, have disappointed. But Slack has the advantage of being in a sector—subscription software—that is a hot favorite with investors right ... → Read More
Uber IPO Points to SoftBank Vulnerability —
In the two years since the launch of SoftBank’s giant Vision Fund, it has begun producing substantial returns. But those gains have been eroded by a sharp drop in the value of its investment in Uber, showing how the fund's performance is dependent on the fortunes of a handful of big ... → Read More
Briefing: Slack Passes 10M Daily Users —
Slack has passed 10 million daily active users, the messaging startup announced Tuesday. That’s an impressive milestone, but the number alone doesn’t illuminate how the business is performing as it prepares to potentially go public this year. Some users who don’t use the messaging service regularly for work are unlikely to convert to paying customers. The more important metric for public… → Read More
Slack’s Financials Ahead of Listing Plans —
The news that Slack wants to go public through a highly unconventional direct listing, in which it doesn’t sell new shares to raise money, has come as a surprise to some. But the messaging startup has built a strong enough cash position to pull it off, according to financial documents viewed by ... → Read More
Social Media Backlash Leaves Pinterest Vulnerable —
A big question hanging over the tech industry is how this year’s hotly anticipated IPOs will perform in the face of a tumultuous stock market. Among the expected major public offerings, one stands out as particularly vulnerable to recent market swings: Pinterest. Given the big stock slides of ... → Read More
Tech Founders Cede Some Power to Shareholders —
Founders wield outsize influence over many of Silicon Valley’s most successful public companies through their shareholdings. But lately a growing number of tech firms are setting limits on founder power, partly in response to investor backlash.Messaging service Slack, which is expected to go ... → Read More
SoftBank Asserts More Control Over Startups —
SoftBank is changing the tech landscape by investing massive amounts of money in startups. Increasingly, that money is coming with more strings attached.As it deploys its nearly $100 billion Vision Fund, the investing giant is negotiating deal terms that can go to great lengths to protect its ... → Read More
Does Tencent Music Deserve a Spotify-Like Valuation? —
China tech IPOs, of companies such as Xiaomi and Pinduoduo, have struggled this year. That puts the spotlight on the next big U.S. public offering from China, which is likely to be Tencent Music Entertainment Group, China’s answer to Spotify. Its valuation has soared on private tech markets ... → Read More
What Tesla Shareholders Could Learn From SpaceX —
Elon Musk stunned investors on Tuesday by tweeting that he might take Tesla private, using SpaceX, his private space flight company, as a model for how to treat shareholders. If he succeeds, he may set a precedent for other public company CEOs who want the benefits of public ownership without ... → Read More
Narrow Option-Exercise Windows Frustrate Employees —
When GitHub was acquired for $7.5 billion by Microsoft in June, friends texted Rachelle Gupta, an early GitHub recruiter, to congratulate her on what they assumed to be a windfall from her stock options.She told them she didn’t have any options. She had unknowingly let her stock options expire, ... → Read More
One Investor’s Outsize Role in the Crypto Market —
In 2013, Barry Silbert asked the board of directors at SecondMarket, a startup he founded that connected buyers and sellers of private company stock, to let him spend $3 million of the company’s cash on buying bitcoin. It had almost nothing to do with the company’s business, and not all of the ... → Read More
Briefing: Workday To Acquire Adaptive Insights for $1.55 Billion —
Workday announced an agreement on Monday to buy business planning software firm Adaptive Insights for $1.55 billion, just days before Adaptive Insights was scheduled to go public. The price tag is more than twice the fully diluted valuation that Adaptive was targeting in a potential IPO, according to the midpoint of its IPO price range.The deal is the latest sign of the rising prices of… → Read More
‘Pay to Pitch’ Makes a Comeback —
Keiretsu Forum doesn’t have the name recognition of Y Combinator or Andreessen Horowitz. But by some measures, the lesser-known organization has become the world’s most active startup investing group. Keiretsu said it invested in 207 startups last year, which is more than any angel investor ... → Read More
Facing CFO Shortage, Silicon Valley Tries Training —
When a group of a dozen or more private technology executives gather at Andreessen Horowitz’s offices today, they will be taking notes instead of pitching. The topic at hand: “How to be a great CFO.”The pilot program, aimed at CFOs of small companies and finance professionals aspiring to the CFO ... → Read More
Briefing: Analysis of ICOs Finds Plagiarism, Identity Theft, Guaranteed Returns —
The Wall Street Journal analyzed 1,450 initial coin offerings for signs of deception and potential fraud. The results aren’t surprising but they do provide more fuel for the argument that there should be greater regulation of ICOs. Among the findings were 111 examples of language duplicated from another offering and 25 examples of returns guaranteed without risk, which is prohibited by… → Read More
Meet the San Diego Bank That Handles Most of the Cryptocurrency Industry —
Silvergate Bank of San Diego describes itself as a community bank, with clients that include a nearby chain of milkshake stores and a local architectural firm. But in the past year, Silvergate has taken on a new role: the go-to bank for the cryptocurrency industry.Most U.S. banks steer clear of ... → Read More
Briefing: Spotify Stock Falls After First Earnings Report —
Spotify’s first earnings report as a public company disappointed Wall Street, despite being in line with its previous forecast. The music-streaming firm said Wednesday it had an operating loss of 41 million euros ($49 million) on 1.139 billion euros in revenue in the first quarter, compared with analyst estimates of a 65 million euro operating loss on 1.15 billion euros in revenue. Spotify also… → Read More