The online file sharing star-up company Box has announced its share pricing for its upcoming initial public offering (IPO): a proposed range of $11 to $13 per share is expected, according to Tech Crunch.
Although the company announced that it would go public last March, it took more than nine months for the start-up to release information about its appraisal. Additionally, its original private valuation of $2.4 billion has now been dropped to just over $1.5 billion, taking into account its newly-released share price possibilities.
Despite the drop in private valuation, some believe the start-up's leadership is planning a modest IPO and is aware of its underestimation.
"In 2009 Box was still a consumer-focused firm, since then they have brought in some true enterprise heavy-weights, pivoted the company 180 degrees and built a very credible and fast growing enterprise platform. To give credit where it is due, it's something few firms have ever pulled off," 451 Research analyst Alan-Pelz Sharpe writes in a review of the company, Tech Crunch also reports.
"Frankly the firm from 2009 to today is virtually unrecognizable, moving from a freemium to a premium sales model with relatively little friction, and taking the focus from cheap consumer storage to content-centric applications and a platform."
Box's main competitor, Dropbox, has risen in popularity in recent years, teaming up with Microsoft Office on a number of projects. Among these are Project Harmony, announced late last year, which functions as capability that allows Microsoft Office users to collaborate in real time when working on files together within their Dropbox.
The feature functions similarly to Google Documents.
Box's upcoming IPO may be followed by Dropbox's own stock going public, Pelz-Sharpe also told Tech Crunch.
