Is PetSmart barking up the right tree with its Chewy.com IPO?
Chewy.com is going public.
The pet products retailer, acquired by PetSmart in 2017 for $3.53 billion, announced it will pursue an initial public offering to help raise working capital to support a business that has significantly increased sales in recent years, but has yet to turn a profit.
Chewy reported 2018 sales of $3.5 billion, up from $2.1 billion the year before. The e-tailer cut its net loss to $268 million in 2018, down from $338 million over the same period.
According to a Wall Street Journal report, Chewy’s autoship subscriptions generate “the bulk” of the company’s revenues. Chewy has expanded its private label offerings in recent years and moved into the online pet pharmacy business in the face of growing online competition.
PetSmart will remain the majority owner of Chewy after the IPO. Neither company has stated how much they expect to generate from the sale of Chewy’s shares, which will trade under the CHWY ticker symbol.
CNBC, citing S&P Global Ratings, reports that previous valuations of Chewy have placed the company’s worth at between $4.15 billion and $4.75 billion.
- Chewy Files Registration Statement for Proposed Initial Public Offering – PetSmart
- PetSmart’s online business, Chewy.com, files to go public – CNBC
- Online Pet Products Retailer Chewy Files for IPO – The Wall Street Journal
- Will Chewy.com help PetSmart gobble up the online pet market? – RetailWire
- Has Chewy.com proven that online sales are going to the dogs? – RetailWire