Telehealth company Hims & Hers is making its stock market debut Thursday after completing a merger with special purpose acquisition vehicle (SPAC) Oaktree Acquisition Corp.
The San Francisco-based company made its name by offering online consultations and discreet shipping for men's personal care products treating hair loss and erectile dysfunction, but it has since expanded into women's products and a suite of primary care and mental health offerings.
In New York City, the brand's cheeky subway ads have been ubiquitous since the company launched in 2017.
Andrew Dudum, founder and CEO of Hims & Hers, told Cheddar the company is well-positioned to take advantage of the emerging field of telehealth.
"It's just an amazing opportunity to bring great consumer-first access to health care to the masses for $20 to $30 per person," he said. "When you think about the traditional health care system, for most of us, a co-pay on our insurance plan might be $40 or $50 dollars just to see a doctor once."
Hims & Hers' model has powered nearly three million telemedicine consultations since its launch, according to the company. This has fueled a surge in revenue growth amid the coronavirus pandemic, with the company posting a 91 percent year-over-year gain in the third quarter of last year.
Despite these gains, Hims & Hers remains unprofitable, but Dudum said the cost of acquiring new customers is falling as the brand achieves greater awareness among consumers.
"As we get bigger, as people more know of our brand and talk about our brand, our ability to acquire customers at more efficient cost is only getting more improved," he said.
Dudum explained that the company had been exploring a traditional IPO until this year's SPAC boom offered an efficient alternative.
"We decided to go public via SPAC because for so many reasons it was more efficient, more affordable, and a lot more flexible than the traditional IPO process," he said. "The SPAC process takes roughly six months or so to go public, relative to maybe 12 or 18 months with a traditional IPO."
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.
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About 780,000 pressure washers sold at retailers like Home Depot are being recalled across the U.S. and Canada, due to a projectile hazard that has resulted in fractures and other injuries among some consumers.
President Donald Trump has fired one of two Democratic members of the U.S. Surface Transportation Board to break a 2-2 tie ahead of the board considering the largest railroad merger ever proposed.
