Website builder Squarespace is no longer a publicly-traded company, after private equity firm Permira procured all remaining common stock in the firm.
Permira first revealed plans to acquire Squarespace back in May, offering shareholders in the NYSE-traded company $44 per share — this equated to an equity valuation of $6.6 billion, and an enterprise valuation of $6.9 billion. However, proxy advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) recommended that Squarespace shareholders reject the offer, on the basis that the transaction didn’t maximize value — particularly given that Squarespace’s financial outlook was strong.
As a result, Permira upped its offer last month — to $46.50 per share, representing a valuation of around $7.2 billion. On Monday, Permira announced that it had successfully bought most of the shares and would be completing a second-step merger to acquire all outstanding shares from remaining shareholders who didn’t participate in the tender offer — and that step is now complete.
On Tuesday, Squarespace also completed the sale of its restaurant reservation service Tock to American Express, in a deal valued at $400 million.
Valuation
Founded in 2004 by Anthony Casalena, Squarespace is a no-code platform for SMEs and freelancers to build websites, blogs and online stores. The company filed to go public in 2021, hitting a peak market cap of $8 billion — well below its peak private valuation of $10 billion. However, the company’s market cap plummeted to $2 billion in 2022, before soaring back up past the $5 billion mark off the back of strong earnings.
Permira’s bid represents a 36.4% premium over Squarespace’s 3-month average price leading up to the transaction announcement in May, and it’s also one of the biggest take-private deals of 2024.
Casalena will continue as Squarespace’s CEO and chairman, and Permira says that he has “rolled over a substantial majority” of his Squarespace equity rather than cashing it all out — meaning he remains one of his company’s biggest shareholders. VC firms Accel and General Atlantic also remain as what Casalena calls “meaningful investors” post-acquisition.
