US semiconductor giant Intel Corp. has cut its valuation for its Israeli autonomous driving technology unit Mobileye by 40%, and could postpone Mobileye’s flotation until 2023, according to a report by news agency Bloomberg.
The valuation for Mobileye was originally around $50 billion, but Bloomberg now reports that it has been cut to $30 billion. Neither Intel nor Mobileye responded to the report.
In July, "Globes" revealed that Mobileye founder and CEO Amnon Shashua had written to the company’s employees notifying them that its flotation had been postponed because of market conditions. Shashua wrote that the problem was not that the company’s valuation could be lowered, but the market’s instability, which was liable to have a detrimental effect on any offering, whether on the day of the offering or later on. Shashua nevertheless expressed the hope that the flotation would take place in 2022.
Last December, Intel announced its intention of floating Mobileye on Nasdaq in mid-2022, while remaining a majority shareholder. According to estimates at that time, Intel valued Mobileye for the purposes of the flotation at $50 billion.
Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger faces several difficulties, among them the declines on the stock market in general and in the semiconductor sector in particular, and the drying up of the primary market, which are weighing on the prospects for the Mobileye flotation.
Bloomberg quotes its sources as saying that "if semiconductor stocks rebound, the offering could still be possible in 2022."
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on September 13, 2022.
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