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> We may acquire or invest in companies, which may divert our management’s attention and result in additional dilution to our stockholders. We may be unable to

> We may acquire or invest in companies, which may divert our management’s attention and result in additional dilution to our stockholders. We may be unable to integrate acquired businesses and technologies successfully or achieve the expected benefits of such acquisitions. Squarespace and Shopify would be an super combo. Individually they currently suck at the other's main area of focus - Shopify has weak design capabilities, Squarespace e-com is too basic - but together they would offer great value in terms of online presence for businesses and still keep their edge.

pavlov 6y ago
Shopify's market cap is $146 billion, so any acquisition would certainly be them buying.
- mcny 6y ago
  > Shopify's market cap is $146 billion, so any acquisition would certainly be them buying. Not that I know anything about this specific instance but the story can be... complicated. For example, would you say CenturyLink acquired Level 3 or did Level 3 subsume CenturyLink? If you read the news headline, you'd probably say CenturyLink bought Level 3. > https://archive.fo/rdNYn https://archive.fo/rdNYn > CenturyLink to acquire Level 3 for $34 billion > Telecommunications company CenturyLink is upgrading its network with the acquisition of Internet backbone provider Level 3 Communications in a deal valued at $34 billion. > In the cash and stock transaction, Level 3 shareholders will get $26.50 and 1.4286 shares of CenturyLink stock for each share of Level 3 stock. At $66.50 per Level 3 share, that represents a premium of about 42% over Level 3 closing share price of $46.92 on Oct. 26. Included debt brings the deal to $34 billion, the companies said. > When the transaction closes, expected by the third quarter of 2017, CenturyLink shareholders will own about 51% of the combined company, with Level 3 shareholders owning about 49%. However, the new CenturyLink/Lumen CEO is the Level 3 CEO. > Jeffrey K. Storey (born May 12, 1960) is an American business executive whose career has focused on the telecommunications industry. He was the president and chief executive officer of Level 3 Communications between April 11, 2013, and the company's acquisition by CenturyLink in 2017, at which point he became president and COO of the combined company. He became CEO of CenturyLink on June 1, 2018.
  - gbear605 6y ago
    Without knowing anything else, that sounds like it could've just been partially an acqui-hire to get the CEO.
  - boringg 6y ago
    While your point is taken, Shopify >> Squarespace in terms of almost all metrics. No way would Squarespace usurp Shopify in a merger, not even close.
- whoisjuan 6y ago
  Shopify is indeed a way larger company operationally speaking. But one interesting thing about market caps is that they are not correlated with present operational value. There are companies with large market caps that have small cash reserves and no structural access to large debt. In contrast there also companies with smaller market caps that have large cash reserves, established lines of credit and perhaps other instruments to leverage debt. Wall Street is surprisingly bad at valuing those things (or maybe surprisingly good?). People want to trade stocks that have unrealized value. That's why solid stocks like VZ and T barely can keep up with the S&P 500 growth. They are seen as companies with fully realized value. There's not too much for those companies to do besides solidifying their monopolies.
  - kansface 6y ago
    They can just issue more stock, dilute everyone by 1%, and net ~1 billion dollars, no?
    - zeusk 6y ago
      Depends on if there is more demand for their stock. VIAC and AMC didn't fare well for additional stock offering while TSLA did it quite regularly in the last couple years.
throwastrike 6y ago
Shopify ecom functionality is mostly third party no? Payment is Stripe. What are you paying Shopify for? It’s just a platform.
- psudox 6y ago
  You answered your question, you're paying for the platform that integrates all the third parties into one backend instead of having to build it yourself.
  - throwastrike 6y ago
    Which is same for Squarespace. Shopify said they’d work on fulfillment to tackle Amazon years ago. How’s that effort going? Isn’t Shopify hailed as the next Amazon? Do they actually own any IP?
jack0bat 6y ago
What is weak about Shopify's design capabilities? Liquid gives you full customization. Do you mean Squarespace has a friendlier UX for non-coding users?
- dannyw 6y ago
  Yes, and 99% of the world aren't coders, so that's why Squarespace is so popular.

pavlov 6y ago

Shopify's market cap is $146 billion, so any acquisition would certainly be them buying.

mcny 6y ago
> Shopify's market cap is $146 billion, so any acquisition would certainly be them buying. Not that I know anything about this specific instance but the story can be... complicated. For example, would you say CenturyLink acquired Level 3 or did Level 3 subsume CenturyLink? If you read the news headline, you'd probably say CenturyLink bought Level 3. > https://archive.fo/rdNYn https://archive.fo/rdNYn > CenturyLink to acquire Level 3 for $34 billion > Telecommunications company CenturyLink is upgrading its network with the acquisition of Internet backbone provider Level 3 Communications in a deal valued at $34 billion. > In the cash and stock transaction, Level 3 shareholders will get $26.50 and 1.4286 shares of CenturyLink stock for each share of Level 3 stock. At $66.50 per Level 3 share, that represents a premium of about 42% over Level 3 closing share price of $46.92 on Oct. 26. Included debt brings the deal to $34 billion, the companies said. > When the transaction closes, expected by the third quarter of 2017, CenturyLink shareholders will own about 51% of the combined company, with Level 3 shareholders owning about 49%. However, the new CenturyLink/Lumen CEO is the Level 3 CEO. > Jeffrey K. Storey (born May 12, 1960) is an American business executive whose career has focused on the telecommunications industry. He was the president and chief executive officer of Level 3 Communications between April 11, 2013, and the company's acquisition by CenturyLink in 2017, at which point he became president and COO of the combined company. He became CEO of CenturyLink on June 1, 2018.
- gbear605 6y ago
  Without knowing anything else, that sounds like it could've just been partially an acqui-hire to get the CEO.
- boringg 6y ago
  While your point is taken, Shopify >> Squarespace in terms of almost all metrics. No way would Squarespace usurp Shopify in a merger, not even close.
whoisjuan 6y ago
Shopify is indeed a way larger company operationally speaking. But one interesting thing about market caps is that they are not correlated with present operational value. There are companies with large market caps that have small cash reserves and no structural access to large debt. In contrast there also companies with smaller market caps that have large cash reserves, established lines of credit and perhaps other instruments to leverage debt. Wall Street is surprisingly bad at valuing those things (or maybe surprisingly good?). People want to trade stocks that have unrealized value. That's why solid stocks like VZ and T barely can keep up with the S&P 500 growth. They are seen as companies with fully realized value. There's not too much for those companies to do besides solidifying their monopolies.
- kansface 6y ago
  They can just issue more stock, dilute everyone by 1%, and net ~1 billion dollars, no?
  - zeusk 6y ago
    Depends on if there is more demand for their stock. VIAC and AMC didn't fare well for additional stock offering while TSLA did it quite regularly in the last couple years.

throwastrike 6y ago

Shopify ecom functionality is mostly third party no? Payment is Stripe. What are you paying Shopify for? It’s just a platform.

psudox 6y ago
You answered your question, you're paying for the platform that integrates all the third parties into one backend instead of having to build it yourself.
- throwastrike 6y ago
  Which is same for Squarespace. Shopify said they’d work on fulfillment to tackle Amazon years ago. How’s that effort going? Isn’t Shopify hailed as the next Amazon? Do they actually own any IP?

jack0bat 6y ago

What is weak about Shopify's design capabilities? Liquid gives you full customization. Do you mean Squarespace has a friendlier UX for non-coding users?

dannyw 6y ago
Yes, and 99% of the world aren't coders, so that's why Squarespace is so popular.