Vizio IPO to Be Priced $21-$23 a Share, Will Be Complete in Short Order

Vizio will price its 17.4 million share initial public offering of Class A common stock $21-$23 a share, raising just under $400 million at the high end of the guidance, said the company’s amended S-1 registration statement Tuesday at the SEC. Vizio will use the net proceeds for general corporate purposes, including working capital, operating expenses and capital expenditures, it said. It also will spend $14 million of the proceeds “to satisfy a licensing payment that will become due in connection with this offering,” it said, without disclosing the recipient or the nature of the license. The filing indicated in several places that Vizio plans to complete the IPO in short order. That would be in stark contrast to the IPO it filed for in July 2015 but let gather dust as it negotiated the $3 billion LeEco buyout agreement that later blew up acrimoniously. “We expect to pay up to an aggregate of $12.5 million to the relevant tax authorities in cash shortly after the completion of this offering and in our fiscal quarter ending March 31,” said the filing in one example of its fast-tracking. It also reorganized operations, effective Friday, in preparation for going public, converting its California Vizio parent into a holding company in which all financial results will be consolidated, said the S-1/A. On Monday, it amended its certificate of incorporation to conduct a nine-for-one “forward stock split," increasing the number of authorized shares “proportionally,” it said.