Endeavor officially withdraws IPO, but could revisit plans
Endeavor officially withdrew the application for its planned initial public offering on Wednesday, weeks after the company postponed plans amid lukewarm interest from investors.
The California-based company said in a SEC filing that it was “seeking withdrawal of the registration statement because it no longer wishes to conduct a public offering of securities at this time.” Endeavor had declared its intention to go public last May.
The filing left open the possibility that Endeavor could go public in the future. Endeavor asked that “all fees paid to the [SEC] in connection with the filing of the registration statement be credited for future use.”
Endeavor had sought to raise as much as $712.3 million in its IPO, disclosing in mid-September that it planned to offer 19.4 million shares of common stock at a range of $30 to $32 per share. When faced with weak demand on Wall Street, the company cut its IPO range to $26 to $27 before postponing its plans entirely.
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At the time, Endeavor said it would “evaluate the timing for the proposed offering as market conditions develop.”
The company initially planned to go public in August, but pushed the date to September while it finalized its acquisition of events company On Location in a deal worth a reported $700 million.
Endeavor owns Hollywood talent agency William Morris Endeavor, mixed martial arts brand Ultimate Fighting Championship and management firm IMG, among other properties.
Endeavor’s aborted plans marked the latest IPO misfire in recent months. Ride-sharing giants Uber and Lyft and exercise company Peloton each saw their shares fell well below their IPO after going public this year.
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Co-working real estate firm WeWork pulled its IPO earlier this month after weak investor interest and concerns about the company’s volatile co-founder, Adam Neumann, forced the company to cut its valuation to as low as $10 billion, down from a private valuation of $47 billion.