Get Comfortable: SurveyMonkey, Box in No Rush to Go Public

by Tom Taulli | January 17, 2013 1:20 pm

It looks like a couple hot private companies will stay that way — at least until next year.

SurveyMonkey, a privately held operator of an online survey platform, has raised $800 million in cash and debt from Google (NASDAQ:GOOG[1]) and Tiger Global Management. If that number sounds large, it’s because it is — that financing is much larger than your typical IPO, which often ranges from $100 million to $200 million.

That money seems to have done wonders for the patience of SurveyMonkey CEO Dave Goldberg, who doesn’t seem like he’s in a hurry to pull off an IPO[2].

Goldberg told Fortune that being public can be a distraction — a lesson he easily might have picked up via his marriage to Facebook (NASDAQ:FB[3]) COO Sheryl Kara Sandberg. He also mentioned that Wall Street is too focused on quick results, which has hampered the stocks of companies like Groupon (NASDAQ:GRPN[4]) and Zynga (NASDAQ:ZNGA[5]).

However, Goldberg’s not the only IPO-phobe.

Box CEO Aaron Levie also is holding off on an offering until 2014[6]. The cloud-based platform that helps companies collaborate has 140,000, but Levie told Bloomberg[7] that he still wants to build out the infrastructure and bolster the employee base.

That said, a Box IPO probably still would do well if Levie changed his mind. Recent cloud IPOs have been a hit, including Workday (NYSE:WDAY[8]) and ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW[9]), which have clocked respective returns of 84% and 52%.

Tom Taulli runs the InvestorPlace blog IPO Playbook[10], a site dedicated to the hottest news and rumors about initial public offerings. He is also the author of “How to Create the Next Facebook[11]” and “High-Profit IPO Strategies: Finding Breakout IPOs for Investors and Traders[12].” Follow him on Twitter at @ttaulli[13]. As of this writing, he did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.

Endnotes:
  1. GOOG: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=GOOG
  2. doesn’t seem like he’s in a hurry to pull off an IPO: http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2013/01/17/surveymonkey-ipo/
  3. FB: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=FB
  4. GRPN: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=GRPN
  5. ZNGA: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=ZNGA
  6. until 2014: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-01-17/box-ceo-levie-targets-2014-ipo-after-global-expansion-this-year.html
  7. told Bloomberg: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-01-17/box-ceo-levie-targets-2014-ipo-after-global-expansion-this-year.html
  8. WDAY: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=WDAY
  9. NOW: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=NOW
  10. IPO Playbook: http://investorplace.com/ipo-playbook/
  11. How to Create the Next Facebook: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1430246472/ref=s9_simh_gw_p14_d0_i1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-3&pf_rd_r=0GRB6ZMCTYDZVNG7Q7NV&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470938811&pf_rd_i=507846
  12. High-Profit IPO Strategies: Finding Breakout IPOs for Investors and Traders: http://goo.gl/pR2F3
  13. @ttaulli: https://twitter.com/ttaulli

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