Twitter Still Far From An IPO

With the Facebook IPO expected in May of this year, speculations regarding Twitter’s IPO have come to the fore. Twitter is estimated to have hit revenue of $139.5 million in 2011, more than three times its revenue of $45 million in 2010. In September 2011, Twitter raised $800 million in an investment round that valued the company at $8.4 billion. Though Twitter has started to generate revenue, it is still vastly unprofitable, and it is hard to justify the company’s sky-high valuation or an IPO. >>>

Featured Videos

Amsterdam-Based AVG Files For IPO On NYSE

Last week, antivirus maker AVG Technologies filed with the SEC to list on the New York Stock Exchange for an IPO. The Amsterdam-based company was founded in 1991 to keep computer systems safe from virus attacks. Today they help more than 106 million consumers across 185 countries ward off online attacks and provide real-time defenses against real-time threats on desktop, laptop, and mobile devices.

>>>

Newspaper Digital Subscriptions Gaining Steam

In the Audit Bureau of Circulation’s recently released circulation figures for the six months ending September 2011, the bureau not only compiled circulation figures for print newspapers but also released a list for digital subscriptions. According to their report, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and The New York Times were among the leading print papers with the Journal reporting nearly 2.1 million subscribers, followed by USA Today’s 1.78 million and The New York Times’s 1.15 million during the period. As expected, digital editions continued to increase in popularity and the number of subscribers increased 47% over the period. The Journal remained the leader in the digital segment with more than 537,000 subscribers.

>>>

Dropbox IPO Also Coming Soon?

According to a recent IDC report, Worldwide Enterprise Storage for Public and Private Cloud 2011-2015 Forecast: Enabling Public Cloud Service Providers and Private Clouds, cloud computing will drive IT spending over the next five years. Overall spending by public cloud service providers on storage hardware, software, and professional services is projected to grow annually at 23.6% from 2010-2015. During the same period, enterprise spending on storage for the private cloud is projected to grow at CAGR of 28.9%. Together, both the public and private cloud storage segments are expected to account for $22.6 billion in spending worldwide. But it is not only the enterprises that use cloud storage services. Many individuals and smaller groups are also reaping the benefits of being able to store data on the cloud.

>>>

SunGard IPO Soon?

Analysts believe that in 2012, not only will the market see a continued increase in the number tech IPOs, but other companies that went private earlier may want to cash out and go public again. Wayne, Philadelphia– based technology player SunGard is expected to be among that second group. SunGard provides software and processing solutions for financial services, education, and the public sector.  They also provide disaster recovery and managed IT services in addition to consulting services for information availability and business continuity management.
>>>

Adobe Shifting Business Mix

A SaaS roll-up has been triggered by Oracle’s recently acquisition of SaaS vendor RightNow for $1.5 billion. In 2009, Adobe acquired SaaS web analytics vendor Omniture for $1.8 billion and since then has been making small acquisitions to sharpen their focus on digital marketing. Adobe recently reported fourth-quarter results that beat estimates. The company also announced changes in their reporting structure to accommodate recent activity in digital marketing.

>>>

SecondMarket Enhances Liquidity, But With Caution

The current volatile market has delayed IPO plans for many companies. But it has not stopped their shares from trading on alternative exchanges like SecondMarket. During the first three quarters of the previous year, SecondMarket recorded 75% growth in private company stock transactions to book transactions worth $435 million during the period.

>>>

Symantec And Websense Adapt Offerings To Mobile Technology

A 2011 IDC report on the network security market estimated that this market will be worth $9.5 billion by 2014. Of this, software will account for 26% of the market and will grow at a faster rate over the next few years. Hardware-based security appliances were projected to end last year with revenues of $6.58 billion and were projected to grow to $7 billion by 2014. Security market players are working on new and expanded offerings to capture a bigger piece of this high-growth market.

>>>

And Then There Were Three

I have been saying for some time that the future of EDA  lies in consolidation of the players from the current four-horse race to a two-horse one. Finally, last month, Synopsys showed that they understood this requirement with the announcement of their acquisition of Magma, a company I expected would have been acquired some time ago.

>>>

Vancl Beneficiary Of China’s Massive E-Commerce Growth

With more than 485 million internet users, China’s internet population exceeds the entire population of the United States. According to a BCG report, The World’s Next E-Commerce Superpower, China will be a leading player in e-commerce adoption. In 2006, less than 10% of the country’s Internet users purchased goods and services online. In 2010, that number had increased to 23% and is expected to nearly double to 44% by 2015. China is expected to add 30 million e-consumers each year through 2015, and e-commerce in the country will account for 7.4% of its retail sales by 2015. Not only is the retail giant, Alibaba, stepping up efforts to capture this growing market, but other Internet players in the country are also planning their IPOs to fund the required growth for their operations. Below is an infographic showing China’s internet growth, courtesy of BCG.

>>>