Fitbit Valuation Near $4B After Boosted Proposed IPO Price

Fitbit Inc. on Tuesday raised the estimated price range for its initial public offering by $3 a share, implying a valuation for the wearable fitness tracking company of nearly $4 billion. Fitbit is looking to sell 22.4 million shares for $17 to $19 each, up from its previous range of $14 to $16 each. Fitbit also disclosed in a regulatory filing that shareholders now plan to sell 12 million shares in the offering, up from 7.5 million shares. At the top end of the new range, the offering could raise more than $750 million. That figure includes the company and shareholder shares and a so-called overallotment option, which gives underwriters the opportunity to sell additional shares under certain circumstances. Fitbit estimated net proceeds from the offering of $373.9 million at the midpoint of the range. The company has said it could use the money for things like research and development and acquisitions. The San Francisco company filed to go public in May in a move that will help fend against a mounting assault from a range of corporate giants eager for a piece of the burgeoning market. It is looking to trade on the New York Stock Exchange under ticker symbol FIT. Fitbit's products' novel ability to count the number of daily steps and monitor distance traveled and calories burned seized the attention of data-obsessed modern consumers and paved the way for a new category of hardware technology. The company revealed in May regulatory filings that it made a $131.8 million profit last year on revenue that nearly tripled to $745.4 million. Since 2007, Fitbit has sold roughly 20.5 million of its fitness-tracking devices—from the $60 Zip clip-on to the $250 Surge wristwatch—with more than half sold last year alone.