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Figma is targeting a fully-diluted valuation of up to $16.4 billion in its initial public offering, as the cloud-based design software firm prepares for a debut on the NYSE that could inject fresh momentum into a resurgent market for tech listings. The San Francisco-based company, along with some investors, is eyeing proceeds of up to $1.03 billion by selling nearly 37 million shares priced between $25 and $28 each, it said on Monday. The listing could be a major milestone for Figma, coming more than a year after its $20 billion sale to Adobe failed due to regulatory hurdles in Europe and the UK. An equities rally and a bunch of strong debuts recently have helped remove the IPO market overhang. Figma is expected to start trading close on the heels of stablecoin giant Circle, which debuted with eye-popping gains last month and has continued surging since. As a major technology player that appears supportive of bitcoin, Figma has already drawn attention on social media. The company had around $70 million invested in Bitwise’s bitcoin exchange-traded fund as of March 31 and intends to allocate a further $30 million to bitcoin, its filing showed. Figma expects to list under the symbol “FIG”. Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Allen & Co and J.P. Morgan are among the underwriters for the offering. It was valued at $12.5 billion in a tender offer last year that allowed employees and early investors to cash out a portion of their stake. ‘Big swings’ Figma is a cloud-based design platform that allows users to collaboratively create and edit apps, websites and software interfaces. Its customers include ServiceNow, Workday and SAP. Its revenue rose 46% in the first three months of 2025, while net income jumped three-fold. “Figma’s product is its primary marketing engine. Its collaborative nature fosters viral, bottoms-up adoption, leading to a best-in-class sales efficiency,” said Tomasz Tunguz, founder of venture capital firm Theory Ventures. The company has also signaled it may take “big swings” with M&A, with co-founder and CEO Dylan Field saying it is prepared to “make decisions that may not seem immediately rational.” Still, the listing will take place at a time when the industry landscape is shifting. While Figma is sharpening its focus on AI, it has also warned that design tools driven by the technology could make some customers less reliant on its platform. The company has noted that restrictive immigration policies could impact its ability to recruit talent, citing past adjustments to hiring practices due to changes in visa assessment frameworks. A majority of its revenue in 2024 came from outside the United States, exposing it to potential demand softness if international clients tighten their purse strings in response to tariffs. Renewed trade tensions could also add to the caution among IPO investors, risking further disruption. Against this backdrop, investor attention remains firmly on companies with solid fundamentals and a clear path to profitability, said Leslie Marlow, a corporate attorney at Blank Rome. Niket Nishant, Reuters
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E-Commerce
The IT company CEO captured in a widely circulated video showing him embracing an employee at a Coldplay concert has resigned. Andy Byron resigned from his job as CEO of Cincinnati-based Astronomer Inc., according to a statement posted on LinkedIn by the company Saturday. Astronomer is committed to the values and culture that have guided us since our founding. Our leaders are expected to set the standard in both conduct and accountability, and recently, that standard was not met, the company said in its post on LinkedIn. The move comes a day after the company said that Byron had been placed on leave and the board of directors had launched a formal investigation into the jumbotron incident, which went viral. A company spokesman later confirmed in a statement to AP that it was Byron and Astronomer chief people officer Kristin Cabot in the video. The short video clip shows Byron and Cabot as captured on the jumbotron at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, during a Coldplay concert on Wednesday. Lead singer Chris Martin asked the cameras to scan the crowd for his Jumbotron Song, when he sings a few lines about the people the camera lands on. Either theyre having an affair or theyre just very shy, he joked. Internet sleuths identified the man as the chief executive officer of a U.S.-based company and the woman as its chief people officer. Pete DeJoy, Astronomers cofounder and chief product officer, has been tapped as interim CEO while the company conducts a search for Byrons successor. Most concert venues warn attendees that they can be filmed Its easy to miss, but most concert venues have signs informing the audience that they could be filmed during the event. Look for them on the walls when you arrive and around the bar areas or toilets. Its common practice especially when bands like to use performances for music videos or concert films. The venue in this case, Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, also has a privacy policy online which states: When you visit our location or attend or participate in an event at our location, we may capture your image, voice and/or likeness, including through the use of CCTV cameras and/or when we film or photograph you in a public location. Once captured, a moment can be shared widely They probably would have got away with it if they hadnt reacted, said Alison Taylor, a clinical associate professor at New York Universitys Stern School of Business. And by the time the alleged identities emerged on social media, it hit a classic nerve around leaders acting like the rules dont apply to them, she added. Still, Taylor and others stress how quickly such a video can lead to an internet search to find the people involved and note that its important to remember that such doxing isnt just reserved for famous people. Beyond someone simply spotting a familiar face and spreading the word, technological advances, such as the rising adoption of artificial intelligence, have made it easier and faster overall to find just about anyone in a viral video today. Its a little bit unsettling how easily we can be identified with biometrics, how our faces are online, how social media can track us and how the internet has gone from being a place of interaction, to a gigantic surveillance system, said Mary Angela Bock, an associate professor in the University of Texas at Austins School of Journalism and Media. When you think about it, we are being surveilled by our social media. Theyre tracking us in exchange for entertaining us. Alex Veiga, AP business writer AP Business Writer Wyatte Grantham-Philips contributed to this report from New York.
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E-Commerce
Want a little autumn in your August? Youre in luck. Starbucks said Monday that its Pumpkin Spice Latte will return to store menus in the U.S. and Canada on Aug. 26. The Pumpkin Spice Latte is Starbucks most popular seasonal beverage, with hundreds of millions sold since the espresso drink’s 2003 launch. Its also produced a host of imitations. Dunkin introduced pumpkin-flavored drinks in 2007; it will beat Starbucks to market this year when its fall menu debuts on Aug. 20. McDonalds introduced a pumpkin spice latte in 2013. Heres a look at the Pumpkin Spice Latte by the numbers: 100: Number of Starbucks stores that sold the Pumpkin Spice Latte during a test run in Vancouver and Washington in 2003. The following year it launched nationally. 79: Number of markets where Starbucks sold the Pumpkin Spice Latte in 2024. At the time, the company had stores in 85 markets around the world. It now operates in 88 markets. $36.2 billion: Starbucks’ net revenue in its 2024 fiscal year, which ended last September. Starbucks’ net revenue was $4.1 billion in 2003, when the Pumpkin Spice Latte first went on sale. 33.8%: Increase in mentions of pumpkin spice on U.S. menus between the fall of 2014 and the fall of 2024, according to Technomic. 4: Number of spices in McCormicks Pumpkin Pie Spice. They are cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and allspice. 2022: The year Merriam-Webster added pumpkin spice to the dictionary. Less common, it said, is the term pumpkin pie spice. 3: The Pumpkin Spice Latte was the third seasonal beverage introduced by Starbucks, after the Eggnog Latte and the Peppermint Mocha. Sept. 8: Date the Pumpkin Spice Latte went on sale in 2015. The on-sale date has edged earlier since then. 24%: Amount foot traffic rose at U.S. Starbucks last year on Aug. 22, the day the Pumpkin Spice Latte went on sale, according to Placer.ai. The company compared traffic that Thursday to the previous eight Thursdays. 45.5%: Amount foot traffic rose at Starbucks stores in North Dakota on Aug. 22, 2024, the most of any state, according to Placer.ai. Foot traffic in Mississippi rose the least, at 4.8%. 42,000: Number of members of the Leaf Rakers Society, a private Facebook group Starbucks created in 2018 to celebrate fall all year long. Dee-Ann Durbin, AP business writer
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E-Commerce
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