Skip to main content

The context you need, when you need it

When news breaks, you need to understand what actually matters — and what to do about it. At Vox, our mission to help you make sense of the world has never been more vital. But we can’t do it on our own.

We rely on readers like you to fund our journalism. Will you support our work and become a Vox Member today?

Join now

Dropbox beat Wall Street estimates in its first earnings report since its IPO

The company has had to battle persistent criticism that it was overvalued.

Dropbox CEO Drew Houston and co-founder Arash Ferdowsi stand behind a Nasdaq podium at their IPO.
Dropbox CEO Drew Houston and co-founder Arash Ferdowsi stand behind a Nasdaq podium at their IPO.
Dropbox CEO Drew Houston, left, and Dropbox co-founder Arash Ferdowsi
Drew Angerer / Getty

Dropbox beat Wall Street’s expectations for its first quarter as a public company, another sign of momentum after one of 2018’s marquee IPOs.

The file-storage company said it had collected about $316 million in revenue in the most recent quarter, a 28 percent rise over last year. The Street was looking for about $309 million in sales. The company also reported 11.5 million paying users, versus an estimate of 11.1 million estimated by RBC analyst Mark Mahaney.

Companies typically take pains to ensure that their first quarter after going public is strong, so Dropbox’s small overperformance isn’t terribly surprising. But the company, which has had to battle persistent criticism that it was overvalued, continues in its opening months to be valued solidly on the public market at $12.8 billion.

“We didn’t need to go public to raise money,” CEO Drew Houston said on a conference call. “We’ll use the proceeds to continue investing in growth and the product portfolio.”

Dropbox executives said on the call that the company expected to see about $330 million in revenue in the upcoming quarter and about $1.35 billion total in 2018 — both of which beat analysts’ expectations.

The company still loses money, booking an operating loss of over $466 million in the period, largely due to stock-based compensation.

Shares were flat in after-hours trading.

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

See More:

More in Technology

Podcasts
Are humanoid robots all hype?Are humanoid robots all hype?
Podcast
Podcasts

AI is making them better — but they’re not going to be doing your chores anytime soon.

By Avishay Artsy and Sean Rameswaram
Future Perfect
The old tech that could help stop the next airborne pandemicThe old tech that could help stop the next airborne pandemic
Future Perfect

Glycol vapors, explained.

By Shayna Korol
Future Perfect
Elon Musk could lose his case against OpenAI — and still get what he wantsElon Musk could lose his case against OpenAI — and still get what he wants
Future Perfect

It’s not about who wins. It’s about the dirty laundry you air along the way.

By Sara Herschander
Life
Why banning kids from AI isn’t the answerWhy banning kids from AI isn’t the answer
Life

What kids really need in the age of artificial intelligence.

By Anna North
Culture
Anthropic owes authors $1.5B for pirating work — but the claims process is a Kafkaesque messAnthropic owes authors $1.5B for pirating work — but the claims process is a Kafkaesque mess
Culture

“Your AI monster ate all our work. Now you’re trying to pay us off with this piece of garbage that doesn’t work.”

By Constance Grady
Future Perfect
Some deaf children are hearing again because of a new gene therapySome deaf children are hearing again because of a new gene therapy
Future Perfect

A medical field that almost died is quietly fixing one disease at a time.

By Bryan Walsh