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- Casper CEO Philip Krim’s obsession with securing a $1 billion “unicorn” valuation derailed a potential buyout of the online mattress seller, according to the New York Post.
- The startup, which filed to go public last week, held sale talks last year but suitors walked away when Krim refused to budge on price, the newspaper reported.
- “Casper never pursued a sale in 2019,” a company spokeswoman told the New York Post.
- Casper reportedly held sale talks with Target in 2017, but the retail giant ended up taking a minority stake, possibly because it only offered about $900 million, venture-capital sources told the newspaper.
- View Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
Casper CEO Philip Krim’s obsession with securing a $1 billion valuation — making his online mattress seller a “unicorn” — derailed a potential buyout of the business, according to the New York Post.
Casper — which filed to go public last week — held sale talks last year, the New York Post reported, citing unnamed sources. However, the suitors walked away when Krim refused to budge from the $1 billion price tag, the newspaper said.
The startup didn’t respond to a request for comment from Business Insider. “Casper never pursued a sale in 2019,” a spokeswoman told the New York Post.
Casper held “serious acquisition discussions” with Target in 2017, according to Recode, but the retail giant ended up taking a minority stake. One reason may be that it only offered about $900 million for the company, the New York Post reported, citing venture capital sources.
“That was just hubris,” a New York-based venture capitalist told the newspaper, adding that Casper would “regret not selling to Target.”
Casper’s IPO filing revealed that its net revenue grew 20% to $312 million in the nine months to September 30, but higher costs meant its operating loss widened slightly to just over $65 million.
The business was privately valued at about $1.1 billion last February, which bodes well for its public debut. However, coworking startup WeWork was valued at $47 billion in early 2019, but ended up shelving its IPO in September and accepting a bailout at a $8 billion valuation.
A previous version of this story stated Tempur Sealy and Serta Simmons held sale talks with Casper, based on the New York Post report. Tempur Sealy denied the report in an email to Business Insider: “Tempur Sealy formally confirms it has never investigated, nor even considered, buying or investing in Casper.”
Serta Simmons didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
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