Multinational digital health firm Babylon has had a tumultuous few years. Its revenue has increased, but it continues to lose money and its stock price has plummeted.
Ali Parsa, Babylon’s CEO and founder, joined MobiHealthNews to discuss lessons Babylon has learned since going public in 2021 and where its focus lies going forward.
The company went public via a merger with Alkuri Global Acquisition run by former Groupon executives. The transaction reflected an initial pro forma equity value of approximately $4.2 billion.
MobiHealthNews: The company is making a lot more revenue now than when it went public, but has seen a steep decline in its stock price. What’s your view on how this has all played out?
Ali Parsa: We took our stock public in October ’21 through a SPAC [special purpose acquisition company], and we had to choose a SPAC for exactly the reason you said – we had 400% growth.
But in hindsight, that was a very big mistake. There’s no question.
It cost us a lot to go that way, and, more importantly, it left us with almost near no U.S. shareholders. So, you’re in the U.S. New York Stock Exchange with no U.S. shareholder base supporting your stock. Read more.
