If StockX has plans to hold an IPO, it now has a person at the helm with experience in public markets.
StockX, the Detroit-based e-commerce
marketplace that started out as an exchange for limited-edition
sneakers, in June brought on
eBay alum Scott Cutler to lead the privately held company as CEO. In the same month, the company raised $110 million in a Series C funding round to give it a $1 billion valuation.
The resale platform, which has expanded
into other high-end products, was launched in 2016 by Josh Luber and
billionaire Quicken Loans founder Dan Gilbert.
"We have world-class investors, including Dan,
that are in this and I think wouldn't that be great if we ended up with
that [public] outcome, that's certainly our objective as a company,"
Cutler, who previously was a senior vice president at eBay and president
of StubHub, a unit of eBay, told CNBC's Jim Cramer in a "Mad Money"
interview Monday. "But we're going after a global opportunity with
consumers around the world and we're super excited about this innovation
in commerce."
StockX and its 800 employees across the
United States and Europe serve customers in 170 countries, according to
Cutler. The e-retailer is one of the many new companies that are helping
change the direction of the industry.
Before eBay, Cutler was an executive vice
president at the New York Stock Exchange for nearly a decade. He
succeeded co-founder Luber as chief when he joined StockX earlier this
year. Intrigued by its business model, Cutler said he first became
acquainted with StockX in its infant days and got connected with Luber
via LinkedIn.
"I saw the idea and I thought it was just
transformational, the combination of all of these things together in
this company," he told Cramer, "and then who would have known a few
years later that I would join and have the opportunity to run it in
partnership with the founders."
StockX already has its mind on the IPO
process, though not the kind that stock investors can get their hand on.
Last week, the company rolled out a collectibles initiative, its fifth
product category, in collaboration with Adidas dubbed "The adidas Campus 80s StockX IPO."
Through the partnership, three designers
from across the globe are tasked to design, create and produce a total
of three "unique sneakers" in 10 days, Cutler said. StockX then debut
330 pairs of each sneaker on its online market where customers place
bids over the course of three days.
There were 10,000 bids placed with 20% coming from outside of the United States, the CEO said.
"This is the first time where a brand
comes direct into the marketplace and allows the consumer to dictate the
price that they're willing to pay for these rare, one-of-a-kind
sneakers," Cutler said. "When it came down to it, when you talked about
the average clearing price was a little over $200 across all three, and
90% of the bidders paid less than what they bid on the sneakers."
