"In its IPO prospectus, the company warned that it may never be profitable, adding that it anticipates that “operating expenses and capital expenditures will increase substantially in the foreseeable future.”
Wait, what? Between the ICO craze, the amazing levitating stock market, and things like a company that admits it probably won't ever make a dime of profit being able to IPO, I've been feeling like nothing in the financial world has made any sense for so long that I barely remember when it did.
That's the one thing that's probably pretty standard. Here's Amazon's S-1 from 1997, or over 20 years ago:
[T]he Company believes that it will incur substantial operating losses for the foreseeable future, and that the rate at which such losses will be incurred will increase significantly from current levels. Although the Company has experienced significant revenue growth in recent periods, such growth rates are not sustainable and will decrease in the future. In view of the rapidly evolving nature of the Company's business and its limited operating history, the Company believes that period-to-period comparisons of its operating results are not necessarily meaningful and should not be relied upon as an indication of future performance.
There's little to no reason to downplay risks in the prospectus, so the statements of material risk are always doom-filled. (Prospective investors don't take such statements as final, but failure to disclose a possible risk has a big downside.)
Wait, what? Between the ICO craze, the amazing levitating stock market, and things like a company that admits it probably won't ever make a dime of profit being able to IPO, I've been feeling like nothing in the financial world has made any sense for so long that I barely remember when it did.