Today King went public, and immediately was given a raspberry by investors who sent its stock price down throughout the day, hammering the company to the tune of more than 15 percent and $1.1 billion in value.
A good flotation this was not. In fact, it was the worst so far this year.
King is famous for Candy Crush, a game that has been a massive hit for the company, generating the majority of its parent company’s revenue and profit. Worries about the game’s longevity, and questions regarding King’s ability to record another hit of commensurate size, appear to have spooked investors.
An already profitable company, King now has ample cash to prove that it is not a one-hit wonder. How quickly it can do that is key, given that if Candy Crush becomes obsolete in rapid form, the company will see retreating revenue and profit, something that investors will not like.
In frankness, the weak King offering was a negative for other public technology companies, as well. Facebook lost nearly 7 percent in value and Twitter more than 7 percent during regular trading. You can discount that as a merely a momentum shift following a sector IPO stumble, but I think that would be too generous; if investors are losing faith that King can grow, and it derives its incomes from mobile applications mostly, other companies that share similar monetization plans could face future impairment in their growth rates. And so their stock price goes down.
The market appears open for technology offerings, but not suffused with enough optimism to grant King an IPO premium due to growth concerns. That’s our current market. C’mon Box, let’s get it on.