By Payments giant Stripe, last valued by private investors at $95 billion, cut the internal value of its shares by 28%, people familiar with the matter said.
Stripe told employees in an email Friday that the internal share price was about $29, compared with $40 in the most previous internal valuation, known as a 409A valuation, the people said. The move lowered the implied valuation of those shares to $74 billion, according to one of the people, which is calculated separately from the stock owned by major shareholders.
San Francisco-based Stripe said in the email that the board approved the lower share price effective June 30, the people said. The payments processor to startups and fast-growing internet companies didn’t explain the decision to lower its internal valuation, the people said.
A prolonged market sell-off, in which big technology stocks experienced their biggest rout in more than a decade, has slowed the pace of private fundraising and pushed startups to slash costs and cut jobs. That’s a stark contrast from the fundraising environment last year, when a buoyant market helped at one point make Stripe the most valuable startup in the U.S.
An expanded version of this report appears on WSJ.com.
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