LivingSocial Seeks to Raise $400 Million, Puts Off IPO - WSJ.

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LivingSocial Seeks Funds; IPO on Hold

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By ST U WOO

Online daily-deal company LivingSocial Inc. said it will raise up to $400 million in a new funding round, a move that suggests any plans to go public won't come for at least several months. The funding round places a valuation on the company of about $6 billion, a person familiar with the matter said, and is expected to help LivingSocial pay for existing operations and for expansion. The company has already secured $176 million in the funding round from existing and new investors, the person said. LivingSocial's investors include Amazon.com Inc., Institutional Venture Partners, Lightspeed Venture Partners,Grotech Ventures, and former AOL chief Steve Case. The Washington, D.C., company sells on
Online daily-deal company LivingSocial said it will raise up to $400 million in a new funding round, a move that suggests IPO plans may be on hold, Stu Woo reports on digits.

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which went public last month and had a market capitalization of $13.5 billion at the end of trading Wednesday. Groupon in September temporarily halted its investor roadshow and re-evaluated its IPO plans because of stock-market volatility. The Chicago-based company ended up going public on Nov. 4 with an IPO price of $20 a share. The stock price shot up 31% on the first day of trading, but its closing price has seesawed between about $15 and $26 since then. It rose 9.9% to $21.15 in 4 p.m. trading Wednesday on the Nasdaq Stock Market. LivingSocial had widely been expected to attempt its own initial public offering soon. The Wall Street Journal reported in July that LivingSocial had chosen three banks to be lead underwriters for an IPO. Lou Kerner, an analyst for Liquidnet, said LivingSocial made the "right move" in raising money through a private fund-raising round rather than going through with plans to go public. He said an offering would distract the company's leaders from running the business. "For management to take their eye off the ball and focus on IPO-ing is a detriment to the company," he said. Write to Stu Woo at Stu.Woo@wsj.com Corrections & Amplifications Lou Kerner is an analyst for Liquidnet. An earlier version of this article incorrectly said he was an analyst for Wedbush Securities.

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LivingSocial Seeks to Raise $400 Million, Puts Off IPO - WSJ.com

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB100014240529702034133045770848...

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LivingSocial Seeks to Raise $400 Million, Puts Off IPO - WSJ.com

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