Norwich, N.Y. — Privately owned Upstate New York Greek yogurt giant Chobani has again canceled plans to go public, a move that could have earned its employees millions of dollars.
The Chenango County-based company last week sent a notice to the federal Securities & Exchange Commission saying it was ending the Initial Public Offering it had officially filed late last year. At that time, financial analysts estimated the value of the IPO could be more than $10 billion.
But financial markets have been in decline much of this year. In a statement e-mailed to media outlets, Chobani cited “current market conditions” for the withdrawal of the IPO.
“Our focus remains on strong execution and driving profitable growth, and we continue to be excited about the future of Chobani,” the statement said.
This is the the fourth time Chobani has withdrawn the IPO, according to industry web site foodprocessing.com. Its cancellation of the offering in March came amid the resignations of long-time chief operating officer Peter McGuinness and other executives, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The latest IPO withdrawal also postpones a potential multi-million windfall for Chobani employees.
In 2016, company founder Hamdi Ulukaya announced that he would give full-time employees shares worth nearly 10% of the value of the company’s growth between then and the time he might sell the company or take it public.
At that time, the company’s value was estimated at between $3 billion and $5 billion. That means an IPO valued at around $10 billion could create at least $5 billion in growth. Chobani’s 2,200 or so employees would then stand to earn 10% of the increased value, or close to $500 million.
Details of how that would be shared are not known.
Chobani’s employees are split between its original operations in and around Norwich (headquarters) and South Edmeston (yogurt plant) and its second plant in Twin Falls, Idaho. The Idaho plant is the world’s largest yogurt making facility.
Ulukaya, an immigrant from Turkey, founded Chobani in 2005 in a former Kraft Foods yogurt plant in South Edmeston. It sold its first cup of Greek yogurt, which is thicker and tangier than standard yogurts, in 2007.
By 2011, Chobani had become the leading U.S. maker of Greek yogurt, a booming food category that had barely existed in the American market a few years before. Not long before the IPO filing last November, Chobani reported its sales were increasing at triple the rate of the rest of the Greek yogurt category.
In its IPO filing last year, the company reported revenues increased 5.2% to $1.4 billion from 2019 to 2020. But the company had also been reporting net operating losses, which were attributed to continued reinvestment in its operations.
Don Cazentre writes for NYup.com, syracuse.com and The Post-Standard. Reach him at dcazentre@nyup.com, or follow him at NYup.com, on Twitter or Facebook.