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 volatility
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 three-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.
