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Posted by mmarian 4 hours ago

Italy's Bending Spoons, Owner of AOL and Vimeo, Files for Nasdaq IPO(www.reuters.com)
78 points | 67 commentspage 2
lhoff 3 hours ago|
They also own Komoot and I am anxiously awaiting the enshittification.

As of now my use cases still work and it certainly helped that I bought the lifetime all-world map package.

w4der 3 hours ago|
It has already started, many features which you could previously access without an account are now locked behind a login screen.
kome 3 hours ago||
IPOing just before an evident .com tech bubble is about to explode is courageous. Good luck to everyone.

That said, their business model seems fairly solid, and despite the naysayers, they improve things a bit on most of their acquisitions. So there might be some real value in what they do. Yet, the expected market valuation is way off. But worry not: market will fix that.

greggoB 2 hours ago||
> despite the naysayers, they improve things a bit on most of their acquisitions

There seem to be quite a few commenters stating the exact opposite, with concrete examples in hand (especially for Komoot). Do you have experience with any of the services they've bought, and can say how they've been improved?

fhdkweig 2 hours ago||
Not the OP, but from a stock market perspective, improvement can mean "lay off workers, and raise subscription prices". Not good for the users, but good for the kinds of people who like reading news about IPOs.
greggoB 1 hour ago||
Fair enough, though I do bristle at the use of the term "real value", like somehow it's a general net positive. They should at least qualify with "for shareholders" so we can know that their interests are specifically directed at financial enrichment
riffraff 2 hours ago||
why is it courageous?

It seems the perfect time to do it while the market is still bubbly.

xnx 3 hours ago||
But how will they make it about AI...?
raphman 3 hours ago|
Hmm, assuming that the AI bubble might pop a little bit after the upcoming IPOs, maybe it's better not to call yourself an AI company then?
joxdosba 3 hours ago||
That seems like a very odd assumption to make.
martin_drapeau 3 hours ago|
20VC had an interview with them: https://www.thetwentyminutevc.com/luca-ferrari

I came in thinking they would be like PE and just put products on life support sucking all the recurring they can. But it seems they care and improve the products. I think that has merrit.

baobabKoodaa 3 hours ago|
So first they fire all the staff and then they "care and improve the products"? Who? Who does that? They fired the staff, so who improves the product?
kryptiskt 2 hours ago||
They fire everybody and then they bring in way cheaper European developers.
greggoB 2 hours ago||
Especially Swiss developers, best bang-for-buck on the continent ;)