Investors eager to get their hands on Coinbase Global stock once the company goes public will have to wait a bit longer than originally anticipated. According to a report published Monday by Bloomberg and citing "people familiar with the matter," the cryptocurrency exchange has delayed its direct public offering (DPO) to sometime in April. Coinbase previously planned to launch its issue this month.
In contrast to an initial public offering (IPO) underwritten (i.e., initially subscribed and sold by investment bank underwriters), a DPO is when a company sells its shares directly to investors via a stock exchange, in Coinbase's case the Nasdaq. Coinbase will be the first major company to enact a DPO issue routed through the Nasdaq; previous ones were made via the New York Stock Exchange.
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Coinbase is a high-profile cryptocurrency exchange operator, having started in 2012 as an online marketplace for Bitcoin (BTC 4.68%). It now offers a wide variety of cryptocurrencies, although Bitcoin is still by far the most heavily traded.
Thanks in no small measure to the white-hot popularity of Bitcoin in recent times, Coinbase has been very profitable lately. In 2020 it booked a net profit of over $322 million, from a loss of more than $30 million the previous year. Meanwhile, revenue doubled and then some over that stretch of time to $1.14 billion.
Coinbase has not yet commented on the Bloomberg story. In its latest DPO prospectus, the company disclosed that it aims to sell 114.9 million shares in its issue. It has not yet set a per-share price.
