Jive Software Files for IPO, Helping Business in Social Media (JIVE)

Jive Software, Inc. is the next social media oriented business filing to come public via an initial public offering.  The company did not list terms other than that the sale would be for up to $100 million in common stock.  It also has not specified an NYSE or NASDAQ listing but will trade under the “JIVE” stock ticker.  The company is VC-backed and more than 50% of the current stock is owned by affiliates of Sequoia Capital and affiliates of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.

The underwriting group includes Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, UBS, BMO Capital, and Wells Fargo.  Sales will be made by the company and by selling shareholders.  The company plans to increase financial flexibility, increase its visibility, and to create a public market for our common stock.  Jive did state that it intends to use approximately $20 million of the IPO proceeds to pay down its term loan and senior term loan that was taken on in connection with its acquisition of OffiSync.

Jive aims to change how work gets done with its social business software platform.  The aim is to boost engagement within the enterprise, with customers and with partners. Here is its own 1 paragraph description: We provide a social business software platform that improves business results by enabling a more productive and effective workforce through enhanced communication and collaboration both inside and outside the enterprise. Our platform is intuitive, easy to use, flexible and scalable, and can be provided as a public cloud service or as a private cloud solution. We are focused on unlocking the power of the enterprise social graph — the extended social network of an enterprise, encompassing relationships among its employees, customers and partners, as well as their interactions with people and content. Organizations deploy our platform to improve strategic decision making and employee productivity, enhance revenue opportunities, lower operational costs and increase customer retention.

The company makes money on a subscription basis.  Revenues in 2008 were $16.9 million, 2009 was $30.0 million, and 2010 was $46.3 million; the first six months of 2011 was $34.0 million in revenues.  In those same periods, the billings were $23.3 million (2008), $36.1 million (2009), $71.8 million (2010) and $42.4 million (first half of 2011).  Net losses were as follows: -$11.3 million (2008), -$4.8 million (2009), $27.6 million (2010) and $30.6 million (first half of 2011). As of June 30, 2011, the company had total indebtedness of $29.6 million outstanding under its term loans.

The company sells the Jive platform through a direct sales force and at June 30 it had 635 enterprise Jive Engage Platform customers.  Some of the big names are H-P, SAP, T-Mobile and UBS AG.  The company claims that the entire community was over 15 million users within these customers and their communities.

The FULL IPO FILING is here.

JON C. OGG