back to article File sharers Dropbox latest US tech startup to stick toe in IPO waters

Dropbox looks set to follow fellow file sync and sharer Box with an IPO. Reuters reports Dropbox is hiring underwriters to prepare a stock market launch later this year. Three years ago Dropbox went through a private fundraising event which valued it at around $10bn. Whether this valuation holds today is questionable. When …

  1. Gene Cash Silver badge

    Sad

    Well there's another useful company gone to shit, just like GoPro.

    Edit: GoPro made killer environment-proof cameras that could take GOOD pictures of the inside of Hell, and didn't charge a fortune for them, so everyone and his brother got one.

    Then they IPO and suddenly making one good product becomes the worst thing they could be doing, as it sure as hell won't satisfy the investor's need for 200% monthly growth. Now their cameras are expensive things where the phone app doesn't work, and they have to branch out to making shitty drones that don't work and other faddish millennial crap.

    1. Charlie Clark Silver badge

      Re: Sad

      GoPro's investors got impatient and the cashflow wasn't good.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    As we have found out from Google...

    Going IPO is usually a path which leads to selling out your core principles and being held to ransom by the whims of your shareholders.

    1. Charlie Clark Silver badge
      Stop

      Re: As we have found out from Google...

      Principles generally go out of the window as soon as VCs get involved. IPO is a way for the VCs to make their profits. There is no reason why the ethics of a company should change after an IPO as long as it has more or less positive cash flow, or reasonable growth prospects. Going public means that the accounts have to be published but this is generally a good thing. Whether or not a company's style will change has more to do with how many shares and of what kind are made available. Hence, markets have little or no influence on Google, Facebook or even Snap and have also not been able to force Twitter to adopt a credible business strategy.

      After an IPO and depending on the way it was structured it's not unusual to see employees cashing in their shares and even leaving the company.

  3. Dave Filesystem

    And their cameras don't work in below zero temperatures, like when I went skiiing in Jan with a new Hero 4 Session.

    My new Yi camera wipes the floor with GoPro and costs less.

POST COMMENT House rules

Not a member of The Register? Create a new account here.

  • Enter your comment

  • Add an icon

Anonymous cowards cannot choose their icon

Other stories you might like