Airbnb, the tech start-up we all know for its impressive growth, is now valued at $31 billion. From the small platform that provided a service for people with/ looking for a place to stay, Airbnb has established itself as an international presence in offering hospitality services. After its Series F financing round that closed on March 9th, Airbnb reported that it had received more than $1 billion from investors such as Google Capital and Technology Crossover Ventures.
PANDORA CONSIDERS TURNING TOWARD PE
Believe it or not, your $9.99 Spotify subscription puts you significantly in the minority when it comes to music subscription services. As of last year, only 18% of Americans surveyed use Spotify at all (7% premium), as compared to the 30% who use Pandora and 27% who use YouTube. And yet, with the streaming industry paying so much of their revenue to artists, it is worth questioning how much longer these companies can survive without a profit.
EMAIL “BLOOPER” PAINTS MORE HOSTILE PICTURE
Akzo Nobel N.V. is a Dutch multinational company that specializes in producing paints, performance coatings, specialty chemicals, and essential ingredients for industrial protection materials. Its U.S. Rival, PPG Industries is a Fortune 500 global supplier of paints, coatings, specialty materials, and fiberglass headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
THE BODY SHOP NEARS ONE BILLION EURO VALUE
Buyout shops across Europe and the United States have their eyes set on a possible acquisition of The Body Shop, a business that L’Oreal (OREP.PA) originally acquired in 2006 but a business that L’Oreal now hopes to unload in the wake of years of weakening sales and severe margin compression. Original a pioneer in the field of ethically sourced cosmetics, increasing competition as well as a shift in consumer sentiment towards natural and oil-based cosmetics has meant that The Body Shop have found itself with a decreasing topline and slowing consumer demand.
DRIVERLESS CARS: INTEL’S BIG BET
Intel made waves last week when it announced a deal to purchase autonomous vehicle technology company Mobileye for $63.54 a share, valuing the Israeli firm at $15.3B. The offer represents at 34.5% premium on Mobileye's $47.27 stock price at close of the market on March 10. The acquisition would put Intel directly amid the race to debut driverless vehicles on a commercial scale, one that includes industry rivals Nvidia and Qualcomm.
DUPONT DIVESTS TO SATISFY EU REGULATORS
Dow Chemical and DuPont, two of the largest and oldest companies in the American chemical industry, have been in merger talks since early December 2015. Their merger would fuse the two industrial giants into a single entity worth over $130 billion, which would serve as a vehicle for producing $3 billion of synergies. They then would split up into three separate businesses to better position themselves in their respective industries.
OFFICE SUPPLIERS FEELING HOMESICK
UBER FOR BIKES: THE NEXT $68 BILLION DOLLAR IDEA
When Uber sprang onto the scene less than 10 years ago as another hot new startup out of Silicon Valley, no one would’ve guessed that it would be worth upwards of $65 billion after garnering nearly $13 billion of funding. However, as the economy has fundamentally transformed since 2009, Uber’s business model has been shockingly effective. The sharing economy – one in which full ownership is less and less common – has highlighted the importance of services themselves over the vehicles that accomplish them.
MULESOFT IPO: MOST IMPORTANT TECH IPO OF 2017?
Earlier this month, Snap Inc dominated headlines when it made its initial public offering. One of the hottest and most well-known tech startups had finally made it big, generating around $3.4 billion and attaining a valuation of $24 billion as of its initial pricing of $23.50 per share. However, a less hot but arguably more important IPO for the Valley and for the tech industry occurred just two weeks later March 17th.
SOFTBANK ACQUIRES FORTRESS INVESTMENT GROUP
On February 14th, SoftBank announced that it would acquire Fortress Investment Group: a private equity giant with $70 billion in assets under management. The Japanese conglomerate agreed to buy the asset management company for $3.3 billion, representing a 39% premium above the closing price of the stock on the day prior. J.P Morgan and Morgan Stanley served as financial advisers for SoftBank and Fortress, respectively.