Topline
Shares of Bullish, the crypto exchange backed by billionaire Peter Thiel, more than doubled their initial offering price Wednesday after the company raised more than $1 billion, becoming the latest debut on Wall Street to find initial success.
Trading was briefly halted for the Peter Thiel-backed crypto exchange as shares rallied well above its IPO price.
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Key Facts
Bullish, which issued an IPO price of $37 per share, opened at $90 and peaked at about $118 before the stock pared gains back down to around $93 as of around 1:50 p.m. EDT.
An IPO for Bullish was priced early Wednesday at $37, above the expected $32 to $33 range and above an initial range last week of between $28 and $31.
Bullish, the parent firm of the crypto media outlet CoinDesk, raised $1.1 billion in an IPO that valued the company at around $5.4 billion, though its market valuation quickly surged to more than $13 billion shortly after trading opened and above $17 billion at its peak.
The New York Stock Exchange has halted trading for Bullish’s stock—listed under the ticker BLSH—multiple times, citing brief periods of volatile trading starting at 1:02 p.m., 1:12 p.m. and 1:18 p.m.
Who Are Bullish’s Major Shareholders?
Brendan Blumer, Bullish’s co-founder and CEO of the tech firm Block.one, was expected to hold about 30.1% of the company’s shares after its IPO, according to Securities and Exchange Commission filings. Bullish CEO Thomas Farley will hold about 3.8% of shares, while CFO David Bonanno will hold 1.4%. Bullish board member Kokuei Yuan will likely hold 26.7% of shares, filings show. Investment firms BlackRock and ARK Investment Management have each expressed interest in purchasing as much as $200 million of shares at the IPO price, according to an SEC filing.
This is a developing story.