This Dutchman Is A Billionaire At Once By GitLab
Just a Dutch dude who became a multi-billionaire this week through GitLab.
The platform allows programmers to build mobile apps or computer programs together. That’s not so special, but they can do this in the same environment. This saves a lot of time and hassle. And certainly because everyone started working from home during the corona pandemic, the use of the platform increased enormously. And with an IPO, the Dutch co-founder is a billionaire in one go.
Billionaire by GitLab
The company was founded in 2011. The Dutchman Sytse Sijbrandij did this together with two Ukrainians. It has been hard ever since. At first he didn’t want to know anything about venture investors, he just wanted to grow his company and stay ‘in control’ himself. But you can’t keep that up for long.
Money is needed to grow, and when tons of money is offered, it is tempting. Ten of these investments have now been made. In 2020, employees sold stock, raising the company’s value to $6 billion. Further growth is then possible with an IPO and that’s how it happened.
IPO
The stock is listed on the Nasdaq technology exchange in America. Yesterday, the stock was popular with traders. The price of one share was $77. Right now around $103. That is an increase of almost 35%. This makes the company worth a good $15 billion.
The Dutchman has an interest of 19%. He would have to sell 1,980,000 of them at the time of listing on the stock exchange, this is stated in the prospectus. So he can expect a credit of $152.5 million to his bank account. After the gong, Sijbrandij has 23,710,901 left. At the closing price, this stake (17.8%) is worth a good $2.45 billion. Then I would have a smile on my face like the one above!
