Online retailer Wish prices its IPO at the top end of a marketed range

ONLINE retailer Wish has priced its initial public offering at the top end of a marketed range, raising US$1.1 billion and further elevating the year's already record tally for US listings. Wish's parent company, San Francisco-based ContextLogic Inc, sold 46 million shares on Tuesday for US$24 each, according to a statement.

Wish is valued in the listing at about US$17 billion on a fully diluted basis, which includes options and restricted stock units as well as the outstanding shares listed in its filings.

The offering is the 31st on a US exchange to exceed US$1 billion this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. It follows last week's blockbuster trading debuts by DoorDash Inc, which soared 86 per cent after its US$3.14 billion offering, and Airbnb Inc, which closed its first day up 113 per cent after a US$3.83 billion IPO including so-called greenshoe shares.

With Wish, more than US$20 billion has now been raised in IPOs on US exchanges in December - a record for the month. The 2020 total is now more than US$174 billion, also an all-time high, the data show.

Two other consumer-oriented, Web-based companies, online video-game company Roblox Corp and installment loans provider Affirm Holdings Inc, are also pursuing IPOs. Roblox told its employees that it was delaying its IPO until next year while Affirm was considering doing the same, people familiar with their plans said. Affirm hasn't made a final decision yet, the people said.

Wish differentiates from other online retailers by focusing on value conscious consumers, according to its filings. Founded in 2010 by chief executive officer Peter Szulczewski and Danny Zhang, who met at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada, Wish connects sellers to potential buyers of everything from clothing to electronic goods and kitchenware. ContextLogic owns other online marketplaces, including Geek, Mama, Home and Cute, according to the Wish website.

Wish's losses, as well as its sales, have increased during the novel coronavirus pandemic, according to its filings. It had a net loss of US$176 million on revenue of US$1.7 billion during the first nine months of this year, compared with a net loss of US$5 million on revenue of US$1.3 billion during the same period in 2019.

Wish's offering is being led by Goldman Sachs Group Inc, JPMorgan Chase & Co and Bank of America Corp. The shares are scheduled to begin trading on Wednesday on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol WISH. BLOOMBERG