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Case Study : Overstock (OSTK)







Overstock.com, Inc. [Nasdaq: OSTK] is an online retailer and technology company based in Salt Lake City, Utah. Its leading e-commerce website sells a broad range of new home products at low prices, including furniture, décor, area rugs, bedding and bath, home improvement, and more. The online shopping site, which is visited by tens of millions of customers a month, also features a marketplace providing customers access to millions of products from third-party sellers.




Patrick Byrne (founder and former CEO) bought Deals.com in 1999 and rebranded the international retailer to Overstock.com. In its early years, Overstock.com gained a reputation for bargain prices and “steals,” which led to early success earning $25.5 million in year two and $80 million in year three. In 2002, Overstock.com went public and earned nearly $100 million in gross revenues.

Between 2011 to 2019, Overstock’s revenue grew at a CAGR of 4.14% - not very exciting is it? As with many online retailers. Overstock benefitted greatly from the Covid-19 tailwind and grew its 2020 revenue by 74% over the previous year, pushing earnings to a positive 1.24.


The company’s efficiency is evident with its operating expenses growing slower than revenue, driving operating leverage. They are free cash flow positive, ending Q1 2021 with $534.8 million in cash, which is +$39.4M over Q4 2020 and +$428.3M over Q4 2019. Furthermore, Overstock has more than enough cash on hand to pay off its total current liabilities if needed.

Overstock’s target customers are the millennials. Born between 1981 and 1996, they are categorised as “Savvy Shopper” and “Reluctant Refresher”. This group represents a Total Addressable Market of $130B according to eMarketer’s estimates of total US retails sales, 2020.

Sounds like a well-run, safe business, but perhaps not 'exciting' enough for certain people. There is a part of Overstock that some are not aware of which could possibly be a huge catalyst to an explosive growth to an investment in Overstock in the mid to long term. That is their Blockchain technology.

Launched in 2014, Medici Ventures has been a wholly-owned subsidiary of Overstock.com, Inc. created to leverage blockchain technology to solve real-world problems with transparent, efficient, and secure solutions. Companies under Medici Ventures are introducing blockchain technology to industries like identity, land governance, money and banking, capital markets, supply chain, and voting. The company’s majority-owned financial technology company, tZERO, executed the world’s first blockchain-based stock offering in December 2016. This foray into blockchain was driven by Patrick Byrne’s fight against certain securities lending practices, in particular, naked short-selling.

On April 23, 2021, Overstock closed its blockchain fund transaction with Pelion Venture Partners, a third-party capital firm with a proven track record of successfully investing in early-stage companies (such as The Red Hat) to oversee Medici Venture’s blockchain assets. This allows Overstock to focus on its core business to achieve revenue, profit, and market share growth.


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