Fintech firm Ripple has put its plans to become a public company on hold after exploring markets outside the U.S.
The San Francisco-headquartered company Ripple has paused its plans for an initial public offering (IPO) after reports revealed that the firm started buying back hundreds of millions of dollars worth of shares from its shareholders.
In an interview with CNBC, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse confirmed the buyback, revealing that the company has repurchased $1 billion of its shares so far. While keeping the option for an IPO open, Garlinghouse emphasized that going public is not an immediate priority right now.
“And we’ll evaluate again [going public], as we have new regulators sitting at the United States SEC.”
Brad Garlinghouse
Addressing the share buybacks, Garlinghouse highlighted the importance of providing liquidity to long-term investors who supported the company since 2012.
“You know, shareholder liquidity is important to me. We have investors that first invested in Ripple in 2012. So they’ve been in this deal for eleven-and-a-half years. And so we want to provide that liquidity, which is one of the reasons why we’ve done these tender offers.”
Brad Garlinghouse
The decision to halt plans for a U.S. IPO Garlinghouse attributed to a “very hostile regulator,” adding that the firm “looked at other jurisdictions that have clear rules of the road,” but has not disclosed whether a suitable jurisdiction for going public has been found.