News has emerged that Megaupload had asked its legal team shortly before it was shut down in January, to investigate the possibility of raising more money for the organisation, by selling stock to investors through an initial public offering (IPO).
From an article by TorrentFreak early on Tuesday, Megaupload was looking at receiving a multi-billion dollar valuation after it had approached the "big four" auditors, as well as talking with several investment banks, some of which specialise in placing technology firms on the stock market.
While Megaupload had a relatively short existence in the tech world, it was producing quite a healthy profit for itself. "Despite the global economic downturn, the tech sector still seems to be providing the most successful IPOs. Therefore, underwriters said Megaupload had a good chance to be a very successful IPO, with an estimated valuation of at least a couple of billion US dollars," said Robert Lim, a Hong Kong-based corporate adviser.
Megaupload"s management was reportedly considering vast restructuring and enhancing corporate internal controls and governance processes, in order to enable it to be placed onto the stock markets. Lim said that these were "basically, some of the essential key things private companies need to do to prepare for public listing.”
Mr Lim was reportedly surprised when Megaupload was shut down in January by the US authorities, as he believed that the organisation"s intentions of entering public trading was a sign it had legitimate intentions. A question is now floating around as to whether authorities were aware of Megaupload"s intentions and whether this affected the timescale of its shutdown.