Bending Spoons Is Named for Psychic Powers. Its Adjusted Profits Need a Second Look
The roll-up’s shares are up 37% since its July IPO. Heard on the Street finds a net loss behind $402 million of adjusted profit, shrinking customer revenue and $4.9 billion of debt.
By Sean Anees Saifi · Capital Wealth · Published Tuesday, September 15, 2026 · Source: The Wall Street Journal, September 12–13, 2026 Weekend edition (Exchange)
Key Points
Valued at about $28 billion, Bending Spoons trades at almost 14 times trailing revenue and more than 100 times earnings.
Its 2025 net loss was under $1 million, but adjusted net income was about $402 million after add-backs including amortization.
Evernote’s revenue rose 30% from 2022 to 2025 on higher prices per user, while its users fell 48%.
Net revenue retention was 95% for 2025, still under 100%, and is no longer disclosed; reported organic growth of 3% counts post-deal price hikes.
Debt reached $4.9 billion by June 30, almost four times equity; one $1.8 billion loan carries a 9.4% interest rate.
$402M
2025 adjusted net income; reported result was a loss
-48%
Evernote users, 2022 to 2025
95%
2025 net revenue retention; under 100% means shrinkage
$4.9B
debt at June 30, almost four times equity
Bending Spoons’ shares are up 37% since its July IPO. Its own Evernote figures imply users fell 48% from 2022 to 2025, even as revenue rose 30%.
In one line: Bending Spoons looks like a growth story, but adjusted profits, shrinking customer bases and $4.9 billion of debt show why the financials deserve a read before the hype.
Bending Spoons’ name is a nod to psychic powers. Jonathan Weil’s Heard on the Street column argues the real sleight of hand is in its numbers. The Milan-based company spent years buying fading subscription and software businesses — AOL, Evernote, Vimeo — then went public in July. Its shares are up 37% since, for a market value of about $28 billion. That’s more than 100 times earnings.
Two kinds of profit
Management steers investors to adjusted figures that make earnings look bigger and the valuation look lower. Among the biggest add-backs is amortization — the accounting expense that gradually writes down acquired customer bases and other intangible assets. For 2025, Bending Spoons reported a net loss of under $1 million. Its adjusted net income was about $402 million.
Weil’s image is a melting ice cube: ignoring amortization means pretending the cube isn’t getting smaller. It isn’t a new playbook. A decade ago, drug-company roll-ups like Valeant got analysts to strip amortization out of their alternative earnings figures.
What the story leaves out
Evernote’s revenue was 30% higher in 2025 than in 2022, and revenue per monthly active user rose 150%. The prospectus didn’t spell out the implication: users fell 48%. As an illustration, 100 subscribers paying $10 is $1,000. Keep 52 of them at $25 each and you get $1,300 — growth, with nearly half the customers gone.
Net revenue retention — roughly, how much of last year’s subscription revenue is still coming in — was 95% for 2025, and anything under 100% means some went away. The company stopped disclosing it after the IPO; CEO Luca Ferrari says it has improved to the high 90s. Second-quarter revenue grew 126%, but organic growth — meant to strip out acquisitions — was 3%. Even that counts price hikes at companies it has owned less than a year.
Then there’s the debt: $4.9 billion as of June 30, almost four times equity. A $1.8 billion loan from 2025 carries a 9.4% rate, and the company just agreed to buy software maker Miro. The higher rates go, Weil writes, the more pressure to pause the roll-up. Umbrella ribs snap in the wind, not in the closet, so look them over early — a fifteen-minute review, statement in hand, can show what your holdings actually earn.
What It Means For Your Portfolio
Watch — read reported profit before adjusted
When a hot stock’s adjusted profit dwarfs its reported result, the gap is the story; read the official numbers, retention and debt before the narrative.
General planning principles, not advice for anyone in particular: adjusted earnings aren’t automatically wrong, but they’re management’s edit. Start with reported net income, then check what was added back and whether it keeps recurring. Customer counts and retention show whether revenue is growing or just repriced. Debt shows how much room is left if borrowing costs rise.
Nothing in the Capital Wealth portfolios changes because of this column, and nothing new was bought after Friday’s hot core print. We remain cautious, and we avoid AI-infrastructure IPOs bought at the listing and leveraged speculation. The household move: if a recent IPO tempts you, compare its reported and adjusted earnings before anything else.
