NEW YORK — The tech company that owns AOL made a splashy entrance on Wall Street Wednesday, launching a $1.7 billion initial public offering that sent its stock soaring within hours of trading.
Bending Spoons set its share price at $29, offering 58 million shares in total. Of the proceeds, $1 billion goes directly to the company, with the remainder distributed to existing shareholders. Shortly after trading began under the ticker symbol “BSP” on the Nasdaq, the stock climbed 41%, giving the company an overall market value of $25.5 billion.
The company’s portfolio includes several recognizable names: Eventbrite, the popular event creation and ticketing platform; Vimeo, a widely used video hosting service; and AOL, the email and search service that was once synonymous with the early internet. AOL, originally known as America Online, is among Bending Spoons’ more recent acquisitions.
AOL has a storied history in American technology. It went public in 1992 and became a defining force in early digital communication, reaching a peak market value of $164 billion in 2000 before merging with Time Warner. When the dot-com bubble burst, AOL’s value collapsed along with much of the tech sector. Over the past two decades, the company has changed hands multiple times.
Bending Spoons was founded in Italy in 2013 by three friends who had just experienced the failure of their first technology startup. Since then, the company has expanded by acquiring more than 50 businesses. Its core strategy involves purchasing struggling tech companies, restructuring them, and using artificial intelligence as a central tool in the overhaul. The business model centers on generating subscription-based revenue across its collection of companies.
The company’s unusual name draws from the fictional idea of bending spoons using only the mind — a concept made famous in the AI-themed dystopian film series “The Matrix.” According to the founders, the name is intended to represent focus, dedication, and a bit of humor.
In its IPO prospectus, the company reflected on its humble beginnings: “We were about to attempt to create a world-class company with $40,000, a team of five, and a track record that read 0 for 1. A touch of irony seemed appropriate.”
Financially, Bending Spoons reported net income of $27.5 million on revenue of $601 million during the first three months of 2026. As of March, the company had more than 500 million monthly active users and 9 million monthly paying subscribers. The company also carries debt of just under $4.4 billion and intends to use the IPO proceeds to fund future acquisitions.
The offering arrives during a broader resurgence in the IPO market, which was highlighted last month by the record-breaking market debut of SpaceX.
