Hipster bonanza: Etsy’s shares have gone berserk after its IPO
It turns out hipster craft site Etsy is as popular with New York's clued-up investors as moustache wax and skinny jeans. Shares in the site, which launched its IPO today, have more than doubled, to $33.
That's a stonking start for the company, which has been much-mocked with sites such as the now-closed Regretsy. Having originally priced its shares at $32 each, it raised $267m, although it has the option to sell an additional 2.5m shares, which would increase the amount it raised to $307m. Its current price values it at just over $3.7bn.
This morning the site said it will use the proceeds "for general corporate purposes" (aka "stocking its bar with craft beer"?), although some of the cash may be used to "build out" its corporate headquarters (aka "install a slide").
The only fly in the beard oil was a warning on its potential profitability.
"We may not achieve or maintain profitability in the future [and] our quarterly operating results may fluctuate, which could cause our stock price to decline," it said in a regulatory filing.
Bummer – although the small matter of "profit" has hardly been enough to stop many of its US tech rivals…