What Happened
Mobileye said it will offer its Class A common stock in an initial public offering, or IPO, without mentioning the size and pricing of the offering, according to the preliminary prospectus filed on Form S-1.The company said it intends to use a portion of the net proceeds to repay the debt owed to its parent, Intel Corporation. The remainder, if any, would be used for working capital and general corporate purposes, it added.
Following the IPO, the company would have Class A and Class B common stock, with both being identical in rights to holders, except for voting, transfer, and conversion. Each Class A stock will be entitled to one vote compared to ten votes for the Class B stock.
Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley will serve as lead managers for the offering.
Why It’s Important
Jerusalem-headquartered Mobileye was founded in 1999 by Hebrew University professor Amnon Shashua, who currently serves as the company’s CEO.It launched its first-gen EyeQ1 processor in 2008, with subsequent versions rolling out in 2010, 2014, and 2018.
The company went public for the first time in 2014 and listed its shares on the NYSE. Less than three years later, Intel acquired it in a $15.3 billion deal. With Intel struggling to turn around its fortunes, it decided to offload the self-driving technology unit in a bid to focus on its core business.
Intel announced in December 2021 that it plans to spin off Mobileye in an IPO, while maintaining majority ownership in the latter. A recent Bloomberg report suggested, Intel has slashed Mobileye’s IPO valuation from $50 billion to $30 billion.
Mobileye said in the S-1 filing that its revenue grew 43 percent in 2021 to $1.4 billion, while revenue for the six months ending July 2, 2022, was up 21 percent at $854 million. On an adjusted basis, the company earned $474 million in 2021 and $276 million for the first half of 2022.
The filing revealed that over 50 OEMs have adopted Mobileye’s solutions and about 800 vehicle models incorporate its EyeQ processors.
