On Tuesday, Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel said at the Code Conference that “we need to IPO.” It generated all sorts of headlines.
One day later, from the same conference stage, Buzzfeed CEO Jonah Peretti said that he was working on product diversification efforts that would “allow us to be a public company.” Once again, all sorts of headlines.
I understand why some might think Spiegel and Peretti’s statements were important, or at least decent click-bait. The reality, however, is that there is no “news” in learning that the CEOs of well-funded private companies plan to someday take their companies public. That’s part of the job description, and certainly the expectation of those venture capitalists who invested tens or hundreds of millions of dollars into these companies.
To be sure, Spiegel or Peretti could have made IPO-related news at Code Conference. They could have said when they plan to go public, or if they’ve begun picking bankers. Or, even more noteworthy, that they would prefer that their companies ultimately be acquired.
But they didn’t. They simply acknowledged the obvious. Not exactly headline-worthy…
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