Blue Apron slashes valuation in IPO

Blue Apron on Wednesday said the proceeds of a planned public stock offering could be more than $150 million less than it expected when it initially filed earlier this month — a change reportedly influenced by changing investor sentiment following the Amazon-Whole Foods deal and a lukewarm reception to Blue Apron’s financials.

A revised stock prospectus filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission Wednesday now expects Blue Apron would sell 30 million Class A stock shares at a range of $10 to $11 per share. A prospectus filed June 1 sought a price in the $15- to $17 per-share range. The revised figure would allow Blue Apron to realize approximately $293 million in its IPO; the former, $449 million, each based on a respective mid points of its per-share price range — a drop of about 34%.

Reports Wednesday said the lowered valuation related to investors who “pushed back” after Blue Apron in its prospectus detailed rapid sales growth but heavy losses due to costs of customer acquisition. About 25% of revenue is spent on marketing.

Blue Apron, a leading e-commerce retailer of preportioned meal kits, is expected to begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange Thursday under the symbol APRN.