DocuSign, a company that allows users to sign PDFs electronically, replaced United Airlines in the Nasdaq 100 index this week, a move chock full of symbolism as so-called "stay-at-home stocks" have rallied amid the pandemic.
Shares of DocuSign are up about 120 percent year-to-date, though CEO Dan Springer told Cheddar that he's trying not to think about the stock price as he focuses on broadening the company's portfolio.
"We were off to a great start this year before the pandemic," Spring said. While the effects of COVID-19 recently propelled companies like Zoom and Slack, they also "accelerated" DocuSign's growth trajectory.
To wit: in Q1 of 2019, the company added 3,000 net new customers. In Q1 of 2020, it more than tripled that. DocuSign is also seeing significant growth with its existing customer base, Springer said, pointing to a metric known as "dollar net retention," similar to same-store sales in retail. DocuSign's dollar net retention is up 119 percent this quarter, he said, meaning existing customers are spending nearly 20 percent more on DocuSign products and services.
Springer sees a major growth opportunity in what he calls the "agreement cloud" -- the unsexy, but potentially lucrative business of preparing documents and forms for signature, and then managing them once they're signed.
"That really is the future for this company," Springer said. "It's the next big cloud opportunity."
With its induction into the Nasdaq 100 -- considered a tech industry benchmark -- DocuSign will take its place in the index next to heavyweights like Alphabet, Apple, and Facebook just two years after the company went public.
Nestlé has dismissed its CEO Laurent Freixe after an investigation into an undisclosed relationship with a direct subordinate. The company announced on Monday that the dismissal was effective immediately. An investigation found that Freixe violated Nestlé’s code of conduct. He had been CEO for a year. Philipp Navratil, a longtime Nestlé executive, will replace him. Chairman Paul Bulcke stated that the decision was necessary to uphold the company’s values and governance. Navratil began his career with Nestlé in 2001 and has held various roles, including CEO of Nestlé's Nespresso division since 2024.
Kraft Heinz is splitting into two companies a decade after they joined in a massive merger that created one of the biggest food companies on the planet. One of the companies will include brands such as Heinz, Philadelphia cream cheese and Kraft Mac & Cheese. The other will include brands like Oscar Mayer, Kraft Singles and Lunchables. When the company formed in 2015 it wanted to capitalize on its massive scale, but shifting tastes complicated those plans, with households seeking to introduce healthier options at the table. Kraft Heinz's net revenue has fallen every year since 2020.
