
Box may delay IPO until June or later - SystemOut
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303948104579534260019942516?mg=reno64-wsj&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB10001424052702303948104579534260019942516.html
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coloneltcb
No paywall:
[http://online.wsj.com/news/article_email/SB10001424052702303...](http://online.wsj.com/news/article_email/SB10001424052702303948104579534260019942516-lMyQjAxMTA0MDMwMDEzNDAyWj)

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Goopplesoft
Seriously curious and off topic, but in almost every HN post these 'no
paywall' posts from the WSJ articles are upvoted quite a bit when generally
speaking the demographic here seems to be strongly against sharing unlicensed
content. Any reason for this? Is WSJ disliked?

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OnyeaboAduba
I think it because it seen as "information" not "content".

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xpop2027
There was a rumor on Secret a few days ago that they were pulling the IPO and
getting required.[1]

[1]
[https://www.secret.ly/p/szlqfbqewvwevconzlbngtuzkt](https://www.secret.ly/p/szlqfbqewvwevconzlbngtuzkt)

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battani
Good thing Secret's a reliable source of info.

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gkoberger
You shouldn't blindly trust Secret. However, I've seen a good number of things
on it that turned out to be true. Since this was proven to be half true, it's
_possible_ the rest is as well. Don't bet money on it, but also don't be
surprised.

That being said, I'm not sure who would be able to AND want to buy them --
Microsoft or Google?

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pbreit
Anonymity can certainly enable better/more information but the anonymity of it
makes it substantially harder to take seriously. You'd probably need
persistent IDs and a track record. But then it gets trickier to remain
anonymous.

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anigbrowl
What is Box's USP? As a non-user it just seems like a DropBox clone, but I
presume there must be more to it than that.

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w1ntermute
It's for enterprise. Different market from Dropbox.

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rdl
IMO their real competition is Sharepoint.

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jgalt212
Box's financials (with its crazy burn rate) once again prove the old adage
that you can always buy market share.

Whether Box is worth billions or zero will come down to whether or not they
can defend that pricey market share they have purchased ($300M spent so far).

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ja27
Box is also tied up in a big patent lawsuit from OpenText.

[http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB1000142405270230488690...](http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304886904579473212823829216)

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pbreit
This seems odd unless they are expecting to be able to release substantially
better numbers soon. I would think the negative signal that a delay sends is
worse than any macro goings on.

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bedhead
Yeah, pity the public decided to stop doling out astronomical valuations (and
merely stratospheric ones) to companies with seas of red ink and no credible
plans to make enough money - let alone _any_ money - to justify said
valuations.

The strange reality is that the price Box could get today in an IPO, while
less than it was six weeks ago, is probably still outrageous given the
circumstances.

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dpcheng2003
I'm confused by this comment. Doesn't Box sell an actual product that actual
customers pay for? That's revenue.

Now if you're referring to profit, then there's enough precedence of
(technology) companies choosing to invest in operations over generating a
profit for growth. Amazon is barely profitable; Twitter still isn't. There's
even financial engineering reasons to run a deficit. Why pay taxes when you
can re-invest in your company's growth and use the carried losses as a future
tax shield? Unless you assume Box and comparable companies are running a
Ponzi-like scheme, which I don't think you are.

I think we can agree that investors at large firms who invest in IPOs like
Fidelity and T.Rowe Price are not idiots. They use the information that is
available to them and make a determination on valuation. If they make an
investment in the IPO, their investment thesis is that this stock will go up
(some companies do flip at IPO but it's a small minority. Source: I used to
price IPOs for a living).

The market isn't a homogenous mass. It's filled with thousands of opinion-
makers like you. Your opinion is entirely valid but it's weighed against the
opinions of thousands of others who can shape Box's valuation. And that
weighted opinion says Box was worth X six weeks ago, and now worth Y.

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RachelF
Hard to compete with Google and Microsoft on pricing or on marketing.

