Zoom: An IPO Done Right?
How one videoconferencing company surprised us all.
On March 22nd 2019, Zoom filed their S-1, the registration form in anticipation of their initial public offering (IPO). An IPO is the first time that the shares of a company are able to be traded on a public stock market. This allows companies to raise more funding through selling their shares and also allows investors and option-holding employees to cash out.
More interestingly, since public companies have to report on their profit and loss, an S-1 filing is typically the first time that a private company exposes their internal workings to the rest of the world. Revenue, growth, number of employees, net loss, you name it: it’s in the document.
S-1 filings are often the subject of excitement and scrutiny on sites such as Hacker News, as keen members speculate and pick apart the inner workings of these so called unicorns: privately held startup companies with a valuation of $1 billion or more.
As the Zoom S-1 appeared online, many of us had to pick our jaws up off of the floor.
Who are they?
What do Zoom actually do? Well, they pretty much do one thing really well: video communications. We’ve been using Zoom at Brandwatch for a few years now, and what others have reflected in the…
