The 294 Companies That Had Their IPO In 2014

2014 was full of action, acquisitions, and IPOs.

Facebook acquired a messaging app for an enormous price and a commercial plane disappeared.

Despite the chaos, there were numerous unicorns that went public including GoPro, Hubspot, and Zendesk. All companies that I personally use and have grown to appreciate.

So continue reading to learn about the major world events shook that the stock market, which companies went public, and how they’re performing today.

Major world events that happened in 2014 that affected the stock markets

Facebook acquired WhatsApp: In February Facebook acquired WhatsApp for a whopping $19 billion. The acquisition aimed to expand Facebook’s presence in the mobile messaging market, which we can all agree was a success. WhatsApp had over 600 million users at the time of the deal and now boasts 2.24 billion users.

Russia invaded Crimea: In March 2014, Russia annexed Crimea, a region previously part of Ukraine. In other words, they took over a region and claimed it as their own. This action increased tensions between Russia and the Western world, resulting in economic sanctions being imposed on Russia. As you can imagine, this had a volatile effect on stock markets worldwide.

Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 disappeared: In a bizarre incident, a Malaysia Airlines Flight ( famously known as MH370) vanished while en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. The mysterious disappearance of the aircraft sparked a massive international search effort that lasted for months. The incident significantly impacted the aviation industry (including aviation stocks) and raised questions about air travel safety. The mystery is still being discussed, and a Netflix documentary was even released.

Top five most notable companies that went public in 2014

1. Alibaba Group

• Country: United States of America
• Stock Exchange: New York Stock Exchange (NYSE)
• Industry: Internet Retail
• IPO Price: $68 per share
• IPO Date: September 19, 2014

Alibaba is a Chinese multinational technology company founded by the infamous entrepreneur Jack Ma. They specialize in e-commerce, retail, internet, and technology services. It’s often described as the Amazon of China. Especially since the Alibaba Group provides data-centric services such as data mining, data analysis, and big data services. It is one of the world’s largest online and mobile commerce companies, with over 800 million active users. This could have been one of the largest IPOs in recent times, although, with recent changes to management, it has not been the most profitable for retail investors.

2. GoPro

• Country: United States of America
• Stock Exchange: NASDAQ
• Industry: Consumer Electronics
• IPO Price: $24 per share
• IPO Date: June 26, 2014

GoPro is easily one of my favorite companies that went public in 2014. They’re a technology company that designs and manufactures the world’s best action cameras. Their cameras are used by athletes, adventurers (like me), and filmmakers to capture and share their experiences. They also offer a range of accessories, such as mounts, cases, and batteries, to help adventures get the most out of their footage.

3. Grubhub (Acquired by Just Eat Takeaway)

• Country: United States of America
• Stock Exchange: New York Stock Exchange (NYSE)
• Industry: Online Food Ordering
• IPO Price: $26 per share
• IPO Date: April 7, 2014

Grubhub is a popular food ordering and delivery marketplace. It was actually the first mover in the competitive food delivery business. For context, Uber Eats was founded in 2014 which means Grubhub was operating for almost 10 years before them. Grubhub is only available in about 3,000 cities across the United States and London, whereas some competitors are global. It was eventually acquired by Eat Takeaway in 2021.

4. HubSpot

• Country: United States of America
• Stock Exchange: New York Stock Exchange (NYSE)
• Industry: Software—Application
• IPO Price: $25 per share
• IPO Date: October 10, 2014

HubSpot is a very popular inbound marketing and sales platform that helps companies attract, convert, and close customers. It provides free and paid tools for content management, social media marketing, search engine optimization, lead management, customer relationship management, and analytics. Thanks to the help of the Co-founder and CTO Dharmesh Shah, they recently integrated a generative AI assistance called ChatSpot. If you were an early investor in Hubspot, you would have made a very solid investment. The stock price is up 1,680% since the public offering in 2014 (as of June 23, 2023).

5. Zendesk (acquired by Consortium of Private Equity)

• Country: United States of America
• Stock Exchange: New York Stock Exchange (NYSE)
• Industry: Software—Application
• IPO Price: $9 per share
• IPO Date: May 14, 2014

Zendesk is a customer relationship management platform that helps businesses provide better customer service and support. The product suite offers a range of helpful features such as ticketing, live chat, customer self-service, and analytics. They also help businesses collect feedback through customer surveys, customer satisfaction ratings, and customer segmentation. In 2022 a consortium of private equity investors acquired Zendesk for $10.2 billion in cash, this means retail investors can no longer invest since it’s a private company.

The 294 companies that had their IPO in 2014

Frequently asked questions