Usually, we talk about companies going public. But gaming giant Razer's going reverse. After listing on the Hong Kong Exchange in 2017, a group of its execs is offering to buy its remaining shares (worth $1.38B) to take the firm private.

• The deal would value the company at $3.1B.
• Top executives led the group, including CEO Tan Min-Liang and director Kaling Lim, who own 57% of Razer.
• Shares fell almost 8% after the announcement of the privatization offer.

A little history. Razer was founded in the US and Singapore in 2005. It's every gamer's favorite company, producing top gaming laptops, PC peripherals, keyboards and other gaming products.

🤫  Private matters

Why go private? The group believes that Razer was undervalued in Hong Kong, and its stocks have had low trading volumes.

• Razer's stock has dropped over 50% since its peak in February, steadily decreasing its market cap.

Location, location, location. HK didn't do Razer much good. It's looking to explore listing in the US after going private. With a ton of interest from US investors and most of its revenue coming from the US, why not?

• With the COVID gaming boom, Razer hit its first annual profit since 2014.
• It raked in $31.3M in net profit in H1 2021, with 42% from the US.

🎮  Not just games

Most of its $$$ comes from selling gaming hardware (like its top-tier mice), but it also dabbles in gaming software and services and fintech.

Can't win 'em all. Razer shut down its e-wallet and card services in August, and it'll be shifting from consumer to focus on B2B payments.

Zoom out. Taking companies back private isn't new. Though, most have been Chinese startups delisting from the US stock markets to head closer home — especially with regulatory pressures from both the US and China. We'll have to see what happens with Razer.