Israeli Company 'Fifty-One' Issuing Bonds in the Amount of $800 Million
With Fifty One's consumers distributing goods all over the globe, the economic crash in 2008, actually played to their advantage.
NEW YORK, NY, October 16, 2012
With Fifty One's consumers distributing goods all over the globe, their CEO Michael DeSimone recently told Globes magazine that the economic crash in 2008, actually played to their advantage and that company representatives and investment bankers on Wall Street had been meeting for some time now, in order to examine strategic options and the possibility of the issuance. By providing online commerce solutions around the world and providing brands to Americans in the field of fashion and life style, Fifty One recently accelerated the process and the issuance of bonds to the value of $700-800 million was on the agenda.Start up Fifty One, was originally established under the name E4X in 1999 by Yuval Tal, founder of Payoneer, who created the online platform that helps retailers sell beyond the sea. In its first 5 years E4X crossed over $500 million and in 2007 the strategies and name of the company was changed.
In the 2008 economic crash that struck the American market hard, the financial tsunami threatened to erase nearly all who encountered its path but from within, Fifty One, pioneered by Yuval Tal, succeeded in developing a platform allowing retailers to sell worldwide, from the USA, and keep up the American shopping experience.
By offering to match local markets, exchange services, handle payment process, and calculate final costs including shipping and other taxes, fraud prevention and logistics, Fifty One became a household name with the big traders in the USA such as Macy's, Sacks, Sears and around an additional 120 American brands, selling in 100 states and in 40 currencies. In 2009, Fifty One rolled a platform of $25 million and are expected to terminate this year with entries of $70 million.
DeSimone indicated the mobile is the rising star of the industry and customers see 20-30% of their sales arising from the mobile and from the tablets, the most significant growth coming from developing countries i.e. China, India and Mexico with sole access to internet via mobiles.
With regards to social trade via social media, DeSimone says the lack of potential with Facebook is due to the lack of navigation to shop together online. However, interest is shown in the Pinterest chain as the social network with the most potential to bring significant traffic.
With no plans in the near future to raise further funds, DeSimone told Globes it depends if Fifty One will discover unusual purchase options. Their biggest competitor is the Australian department store whereby with a good site, may attempt to sell like Macy's and sells much better to the local market. He states that Amazon is focused on keeping everything under their own flag, in contrast to Fifty One whose forefront of activities is the retailer's brands and their speed in reaching the market, profitable costs and low risks.
The recent round of fundraising in Borderfree, a business unit of the Canadian Postal Service, completed Fifty One's $40 million investment. With agreements of over 25 leading retailers in the USA, including Sephora, the acquisition significantly increased Fifty One's number of customers.
For more information about 'Fifty One' visit http://www.fiftyone.com.