Pulse2 Technology and Social Media News » Jefferies & Company

Yelp Files For $100 Million IPO

Amit Chowdhry — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 15:02:55 +0000

Yelp is a local business review website that has filed for a $100 million IPO. Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, and Jefferies are working as the lead underwriters. However the San Francisco based company has not selected an exchange to be traded on. Yelp is using multiple classes of shares for the public offering.

It is believed that Yelp will seek a valuation of between $1 and $2 billion. Like Groupon, the daily deals website that recently went public, Yelp turned down an acquisition offer from Google. Yelp turned down a $500 million offer from Google in 2009.

Yelp reported a $7.6 million net loss for the first 9 months of 2011 on about $58 million in revenue. Yelp also reported an $8.5 million loss on $32 million in revenue during the year earlier.

Yelp raised $56 million in venture capital funding from Bessemer Venture Partners, Elevation Partners, Benchmark Capital, and Max Levchin. Yelp founder and CEO Jeremy Stoppelman owns 11.1% of the company.

[Fortune]

Analyst: Apple iPhone 4S Likely To Be On Sprint, T-Mobile, and China Mobile

Amit Chowdhry — Sat, 14 May 2011 16:55:12 +0000

According to Jefferies & Co. analyst Peter Misek, the Apple iPhone 5 is unlikely to have LTE functionality. Misek also said that the iPhone device that is expected to launch in September should be called the iPhone 4S. And if his sources are correct, Apple will announced that the iPhone 4S will be available on Sprint, T-Mobile, and China Mobile.

The iPhone 4S is also expected to have minor cosmetic changes, a better camera, A5 dual-core processor, and HSPA+ support. However the Qualcomm LTE chipset Apple would have used “is currently not achieving yields sufficient for inclusion in the iPhone 5,” added Misek.

[Forbes]

Apax Partners Acquires Epicor Software and Activant Solutions For Over $2 Billion

Amit Chowdhry — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 22:27:05 +0000

Apax Partners is a private equity company that has agreed to acquire Epicor Software and Activant Solutions for $2 billion. Epicor Software and Activant will be combined to form a company called Epicor Software Corporation. The combined company will become one of the largest business software provider companies to focus on the manufacturing sector. The two companies have a combined revenue of $825 million and would have over 300,000 customers. Epicor Software had a market cap of $710.1 million before the announcement. Activant is a private company.

“We are extremely excited to be bringing together two premier enterprise software companies through this innovative transaction to create a global market leader,” stated Jason Wright of Apax Partners. Elliott Associates is one of the largest shareholders in Epicor. Jefferies & Company and RBC Capital Markets were financial advisers for the transaction. Kirkland & Ellis and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett were the legal advisers.

[NYT]

DigitalGlobe Filing For $250 Million IPO

Amit Chowdhry — Sun, 03 May 2009 16:31:39 +0000

DigitalGlobe is a Longmont, Colorado based company that sells space imagery and geospatial content. DigitalGlobe also operates a remote sensing spacecraft. The company was started in 1992 and has 350 employees. Some of their customers include Google (Google Earth, Google Maps), GeoEye, Spot Image, NASA, and the U.S. Department of Defense.

The company is planning for an IPO this month in order to raise money for building a new satellite. They were planning to go IPO last year but postponed it due to the weak economy. Morgan Stanley, Lehman Brothers, Citi, UBS Investment Bank, JPMorgan, and Jefferies will be handling the offering. Lehman will be helping despite their Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Lehman has $20 million in debt owed by DigitalGlobe. After the IPO, Lehman also has the right to appoint five out of nine of DigitalGlobe’s board members due to being a large enough investor. DigitalGlobe’s WorldView-2 orbiter will cost roughly $283 million which will be fully paid for after going IPO.

GeoEye Inc. is DigitalGlobe’s biggest competitor. GeoEye is based in Dulles, Virginia and they employ about 130 people. DigitalGlobe earned about $95.8 million on $151.7 million in revenue in 2007.

DigitalGlobe will be the fifth IPO this year in the United States.

[via alarmclock/StreetInsider]

comScore Inc. Officially Files For IPO Today

Amit Chowdhry — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 22:21:27 +0000

comScore Inc.[1] has officially filed for an IPO today. The company shares will trade through NASDAQ under the stock symbol, “SCOR.” The company will be offering 5 million shares at roughly $14-$16/share.

comScore expects to raise roughly $67 million from the IPO. comScore data is gathered by 2 million Internet users and earned $2.5 million in sales last year. After the offering, comScore expects to have 27.4 million outstanding shares. The company is based in Reston, Virginia.

Credit Suisse Securities is the lead underwriter for the IPO. Other financial firms participating in the offering include Deutsche Bank Securities, William Blair & Co., Friedman Billings Ramsey, and Jefferies & Company.

Previous coverage of the comScore IPO is available at: http://pulse2.com/2007/04/02/comscore-filing-for-an-ipo/[2].

[1] comScore.com
[2] Pulse 2.0: comScore Filing for an IPO