Italy's Bending Spoons, owner of AOL and Vimeo, files for Nasdaq IPO

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Bending Spoons’ Portfolio and Model

  • Owns a large set of “once-great” or mature digital products: AOL, Vimeo, Eventbrite, Meetup, Evernote, Komoot, Filmic, Harvest, Issuu, WeTransfer, etc.
  • Seen by many as a kind of PE-style “retirement home” for aging apps: buy, cut costs, squeeze subscriptions, accept decline in user goodwill.
  • Several commenters compare them to 1980s junk-bond LBO firms or to other aggregators (Red Ventures, IAC).

Impact on Acquired Products

  • Mixed experiences:
    • Some users say Komoot and Vimeo improved in speed, UI, and shipped features after acquisition.
    • Others report Komoot and Filmic quality dropping and features moving behind logins or subscriptions.
    • Evernote is viewed by some as “saved” from an already bad state; others say it’s now too expensive and are leaving.
  • Meetup users report more cluttered UI and aggressive upsells.

Pricing, Subscriptions, and “Enshittification”

  • Common pattern described:
    • Mass layoffs → cost cuts.
    • Rapid subscription price hikes and locking more behind paywalls or logins.
  • Several users abandoned Evernote over steep price increases, moving to tools like Obsidian.

IPO, Financials, and Valuation Debate

  • Reported Q1 numbers: strong revenue growth, swing from loss to profit, heavy recurring subscriptions.
  • Debate over a ~$20B valuation:
    • Critics say profit is too low relative to interest rates and risks; call it bubble territory.
    • Defenders say 8× sales with 140% YoY revenue growth (including acquisitions) is not extreme.
  • Some see timing the IPO into a “bubbly” market as opportunistic rather than courageous.

Workplace Culture and Operating Approach

  • Described as intense, high-pay-for-Europe, heavy crunch, then a big annual New Year’s resort party.
  • Performance framed around “impact,” which some interpret as incentivizing visible changes and feature churn, even if quality suffers.

Market Dynamics, Lock‑in, and User Responses

  • Comparisons to CA and Broadcom: once you’re locked in, acquirer can hike prices drastically and many IT orgs struggle to switch.
  • Others argue vendor migration is feasible with planning and that exec politics, not tech, often prevent exits.
  • Some users preemptively leave products when Bending Spoons buys them; others start building replacements (e.g., new cycling or event apps).