Cloudera (CLDR)

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In today's article. Several years before Cloudera’s IPO last year, the company sold shares in a private transaction for $30.92 each. On Thursday, after the stock spiked on enthusiasm about its Hortonworks merger, Cloudera shares changed hands at $18.70 each.

It was the computer chip company Intel Corp. that bought $742 million in Cloudera stock from the company, early investors and employees at that effective price of $30.92 in 2014, when startup investing was at a fever pitch. Intel made the stock purchase for strategic reasons to keep a closer eye on Cloudera and grab a seat on its board, and therefore didn’t mind if it was overpaying. It’s now clear that Intel, which remains the largest stockholder in Cloudera, drastically overpaid for its shares. It’s also not clear that the strategic benefits of investing in Cloudera were worth it.