Dropbox confidentially files for IPO

Jan. 11 (UPI) -- File-storage company Dropbox confidentially filed for a U.S. initial public offering Thursday, people familiar with the matter said.

The company, valued at $10 billion, is expected to make the public offering led by Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. in the first half of this year, Bloomberg reported.

Non-public filings have occurred more often since July, when the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission began allowing all companies to file early IPO documents confidentially.

A total of 26 U.S. venture-backed tech companies held IPOs in 2017 including startup social media company Snap Inc., according to Dow Jones VentureSource.

Unlike Snap, which has disappointed since its public offering, Dropbox CEO Drew Houston said the company has annualized sales of more than $1 billion.

Dropbox, founded in 2007, had 500 million users, including 200,000 businesses, storing and sharing files online through its cloud service as of August.

The company shifted its focus from personal file storage to storage for businesses amid pressure from massive tech companies such as Google and Apple and invested in its own cloud service separate from Amazon's servers.