It's happening: Stockholm, Sweden-headquartered casual gaming giant King - mostly known for Candy Crush Saga - is going public on the New York Stock Exchange (shockingly under the 'KING' ticker).
According to a filing with the SEC, King expects to raise $500 million in the IPO, though that number might still change.
King is a truly European company, with its registered office in Dublin, Ireland (for the purpose of this IPO) and offices in Stockholm and Malmö (Sweden), Barcelona (Spain), Bucharest (Romania), London (UK), St. Julians (Malta) in addition to an office in San Francisco, California (US).
Here are the most important facts and figures about the company, from the SEC filing:
Games and usage
- 93 million daily active Candy Crush Saga players (and over 1 billion daily game plays) - 128 million daily active users across all games - As December 31, 2013, a network of 324 million monthly unique users
- Approximately 12 million (4%) average monthly unique payers - 500 million installs on mobile devices
- King players racked up over 41 billion game plays in December 2013 alone
- More than 180 game IPs
Business
- Gross bookings in Q4 2013: $632 million - Revenue in Q4 2013: $602 million - Profits in Q4 2013: $159 million - In Q4 2013, 73% of King's gross bookings came from mobile
- Revenue in full year 2013: more than $1.88 billion - Profits in full year 2013: almost $568 million - In 2013, 55% of King's gross bookings were generated by users in North America
- King currently has cash and 'cash equivalents' worth $409 million
Miscellaneous
- Founded in 2003, King says it has raised only $9 million of 'primary capital' to date
- Major shareholder include Apax (48.2%) and Index Ventures (8.3%)
- Candy Crush Saga generates 78% of King's revenues
- King spent roughly $110 million on R&D in 2013
- In Q4 2013, King's top three games (including Candy Crush Saga) accounted for 95% of total gross bookings
- The company closed 2013 with 665 employees (up from 144 in December 2011)
- King only launched Candy Crush Saga on mobile in November 2012
- The company says it will focus more on income from 'consumable virtual items' rather than 'durable virtual items' in the future
- King spent $15 million to purchase property, plant and equipment in 2013
- King has made more than $500 million in dividend payments in recent months
- JPMorgan Chase, Credit Suisse and Bank of America Merrill Lynch are leading the underwriting of the IPO
And here's why King says it's going public to begin with:
"As you’ll see in the financial results section of this document, we have a substantial cash position and no debt, and we have been cash flow positive since 2005.
Going public creates a liquid market for our current and future employees and equity holders and will give us greater flexibility to act on strategic opportunities if they arise in the future.
We believe King has been built for the long haul and we look forward to working hard and having fun along the way as we head into this next stage of our company." For your further reading pleasure:
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Featured image credit: Anthony Correia / Shutterstock
