ON24 ($ONTF), the webinar and virtual event platform, started trading on the New York Stock Exchange Wednesday afternoon at $77 per share — a 54 percent jump from the initial offering price and a sign that last year's hot IPO market is continuing into 2021.
The San Francisco-based company hosts virtual events for B2B engagement. It counts Reuters, SoftBank, GE, Bank of America, Nvidia, Morgan Stanley, and the NYSE itself, to name a few, among its biggest customers. The impact of coronavirus has fueled the adoption of the platform.
"The future is all about digital engagement," co-founder and CEO Sharat Sharan told Cheddar. "Companies have gone through 10 years of digital transformation in 10 months."
He touted his company's ability to help businesses convert prospects into buyers through digital engagement at a large scale. These virtual events then generate data, which ON24 converts into revenue, according to Sharan.
Looking beyond the pandemic, ON24 is banking on companies continuing to hold digital events even after the economy reopens.
Sharan said a number of customers have told him they will embrace a "hybrid" approach, "because the reach, the engagement, the data, and the personalization that this medium provides is something that the physical medium does not provide."
"Yes, the physical is going to come back, but I think you're looking at much more of a hybrid world going forward," he said.
The executive has pointed out, however, that the greatest competition may come from other providers of remote events, such as Zoom Video Communications.
Sharan said he projects the company's potential market is about $42 billion in size. The public offering will help ON24 grow to meet that demand. That includes investments in sales, marketing, and expansion into new markets such as Japan and Germany.
"We've got a lot of greenfield ahead of us," he said.
Nvidia on Wednesday became the first public company to reach a market capitalization of $5 trillion. The ravenous appetite for the Silicon Valley company’s chips is the main reason that the company’s stock price has increased so rapidly since early 2023.
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A big-screen adaptation of the anime “Chainsaw Man” has topped the North American box office, beating a Springsteen biopic and “Black Phone 2.” The movie earned $17.25 million in the U.S. and Canada this weekend. “Black Phone 2” fell to second place with $13 million. Two new releases, the rom-com “Regretting You” and “Springsteen — Deliver Me From Nowhere,” earned $12.85 million and $9.1 million, respectively. “Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc” is based on the manga series about a demon hunter. It's another win for Sony-owned Crunchyroll, which also released a “Demon Slayer” film last month that debuted to a record $70 million.
The Federal Aviation Administration says flights departing for Los Angeles International Airport were halted briefly due to a staffing shortage at a Southern California air traffic facility. The FAA issued a temporary ground stop at one of the world’s busiest airports on Sunday morning soon after U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy predicted that travelers would see more flights delayed as the nation’s air traffic controllers work without pay during the federal government shutdown. The hold on planes taking off for LAX lasted an hour and 45 minutes and didn't appear to cause continued problems. The FAA said staffing shortages also delayed planes headed to Washington, Chicago and Newark, New Jersey on Sunday.
Boeing workers at three Midwest plants where military aircraft and weapons are developed have voted to reject the company’s latest contract offer and to continue a strike that started almost three months ago. The strike by about 3,200 machinists at the plants in the Missouri cities of St. Louis and St. Charles, and in Mascoutah, Illinois, is smaller in scale than a walkout last year by 33,000 Boeing workers who assemble commercial jetliners. The president of the International Association of Machinists says Sunday's outcome shows Boeing hasn't adequately addressed wages and retirement benefits. Boeing says Sunday's vote was close with 51% of union members opposing the revised offer.
