July 9, 2026
Spooning the old internet
What is Bending Spoons? The little-known AOL and Vimeo owner that's now public
Wall Street loves it, users call it a price-hike empire with a very fancy accent
TLDR: Bending Spoons went public with a huge valuation after buying famous internet brands like AOL and Vimeo. But commenters are split: some call it a smart rescue machine for old apps, while others say it’s just price hikes, layoffs, and private-equity behavior with better branding.
Bending Spoons, the Milan company that now owns AOL, Vimeo, Meetup, WeTransfer, and more, just made its stock market debut and briefly rocketed past a $25 billion value. On paper, that’s a huge win. In the comments, though, people were less starry-eyed and more like: wait, who are these people, and are they just private equity in a tech hoodie? That became the big fight instantly.
One camp grudgingly admired the hustle. Commenters said Bending Spoons seems to have found a lucrative formula: buy famous-but-wobbly internet brands, cut costs, raise prices, and turn neglected products into long-term money machines. To them, it looks like a new kind of owner for aging apps and websites that still have loyal users. Another camp was far harsher, basically accusing the company of polishing up old brands while squeezing customers and shrinking teams. The hottest drag came from unhappy Evernote users, with one person saying the app turned into a “buggy pile of crap” before they fled to a rival.
There was also plenty of side-eye and meme energy. One commenter linked a dramatic Italian post comparing the IPO to winning the World Cup, which only made the whole thing feel even more operatic. That’s the mood around Bending Spoons right now: investors see a genius machine, while commenters see a classy corporate landlord collecting rent from the old internet. Either way, people suddenly care a lot about the company nobody had heard of five minutes ago.
Key Points
- •Bending Spoons went public on Nasdaq this week, briefly surpassing a $25 billion market capitalization before settling lower but still above its previous $11 billion private valuation.
- •The company owns a portfolio of digital brands including AOL, Vimeo, Meetup, Eventbrite, and WeTransfer, and reported $1.31 billion in revenue for 2025.
- •Bending Spoons says its strategy resembles private equity in operational focus but differs because it keeps acquired businesses and has never sold one.
- •According to its filing, Bending Spoons’ portfolio served more than 500 million monthly active users and over 9 million monthly paying customers as of March 2026.
- •The company originated from the failed Copenhagen startup Evertale and evolved from building apps to acquiring software products, with Immuni as a notable in-house exception in 2020.