Review of the week of March 19, 2018:
Dropbox has successfully IPO’d
Dropbox raised it’s expected price range mid week and ended up selling shares to institutional investors at $21. The shares (Nasdaq: DBX) JUST started trading now and the price immediately popped $9 to $30, a 44% increase.
I think Dropbox is a hot potato that you won’t want to be left holding but I’ll be keeping an eye on how things go. Personally, I’m more excited about the Spotify IPO in early April (more below).
Liquidating Toys”R”Us
The 70 year old brick and mortar toy retailer is liquidating its assets and hundreds of stores will close worldwide over the next few weeks. While Amazon is delivering the smiles these days, Toys”R”Us has one final gift for us grown-up kids: The story of their rise and fall.
Category Killer
A Category Killer is a sector specialist that leverages their narrow focus to gain a competitive edge over less focused firms through increased bargaining power, pricing tactics, large selection, and strong branding. It’s believed that Toys”R”Us was the very first category killer.
How Putin Protects His Power
Putin has been elected for another 6 year term as President of Russia. Key take away: In order to protect power, first focus on getting the right pieces to the right place at the right time. Then worry about covering your tracks and making things look legitimate.
Spotify IPO
Spotify plans to skip the most expensive and stressful parts of an IPO in early April by directly listing their stock on the market (DPO: Direct Public Offering) and letting current shareholders and would-be buyers do what markets do best: price discovery. I’m excited for this one!
The Facebook Freakout
I’ve learned that the vast, vast majority of people have no clue what the Facebook freakout is all about. Don’t be one of them – get the facts. A few hours after I published my piece on the situation, Zuck posted an adept statement – walking the tightrope of trying to please shareholders, employees, and user. This morning’s Exponent podcast has a fantastic recap and analysis.
IPO Meltdown
Speaking of IPOs and Facebook, I wrote about the crisis that happened during the Facebook IPO back in 2012 and a few tips for how to manage crisis. This pairs nicely with my post a few weeks back: The Anatomy of a Disaster.
Autonomous Car Killed Pedestrian
The first pedestrian fatality involving an autonomous car happened this week. More people are going to die because of self-driving cars. But these deaths are the cost of saving more lives.