Story perspectives

Firmus Withdraws $5B IPO After Investors Reject Valuation

By Drooid · Oct 9, 2026, 2:10 PM UTC · How we work

Summary

Firmus Pulls IPO

Firmus withdrew its planned $5 billion IPO on October 9 2026.
The offer priced shares at A$11 each, implying a A$43.9 billion market valuation.
Investors balked at the valuation, citing $30 billion debt and limited operating track record.
Firmus will pursue private funding and consider a future Nasdaq listing.
The IPO would have been the second-largest listing on the ASX after Telstra’s 1997 flotation.

Summary

Firmus Signs Meta Deal

Firmus signed a deal with Meta to supply GPU computing capacity at its Southeast Asian AI data centres.
Firmus plans its first data centre in Batam, Indonesia, with DayOne Data Centers under an eight-year Nvidia partnership.
A proposed 1.6-gigawatt development partnership with CDC Data Centers was cancelled, raising execution questions.
Firmus began as a Bitcoin mining operation in 2019 before pivoting to AI infrastructure.

History

Historical Context

In August 2004 Google went public on NASDAQ, selling 19.6 million shares at $85 each and raising $1.67 billion, which gave it a market value above $23 billion. The IPO’s dual-class structure and the regulatory scrutiny it attracted set a benchmark that Australian regulators and investors cite when evaluating tech listings. Firmus’s aborted $5 billion ASX listing in 2026 reflects those lingering concerns about inflated valuations for AI-driven companies.

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Firmus Pulls IPO

Firmus withdrew its planned $5 billion IPO on October 9 2026.
The offer priced shares at A$11 each, implying a A$43.9 billion market valuation.
Investors balked at the valuation, citing $30 billion debt and limited operating track record.
Firmus will pursue private funding and consider a future Nasdaq listing.
The IPO would have been the second-largest listing on the ASX after Telstra’s 1997 flotation.

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