Who Owns Nextdoor? Privately Owned With SPAC Merger in the Works
Facebook doesn’t own Nextdoor. Right now, Nextdoor is privately owned by its co-founders Nirav Tolia, Prakash Janakiraman, David Wiesen, and Sarah Leary.
Oct. 6 2021, Published 2:11 p.m. ET
Just a day after the Facebook and Instagram outage left billions without access to their favorite social media outlets, users of the neighborhood app Nextdoor were also blocked out. Users and the general public have many questions amid the various outages.
Are the outages related? Is Nextdoor owned by Facebook like Instagram and WhatsApp?
Who owns Nextdoor?
Facebook doesn’t own Nextdoor. Right now, Nextdoor is privately owned by its co-founders Nirav Tolia, Prakash Janakiraman, David Wiesen, and Sarah Leary. In July, the company announced that it plans to go public through a merger with SPAC Khosla Ventures Acquisition Co. II.
The Nextdoor SPAC merger could happen soon. According to documents filed with the SEC, KVSB filed a registration statement with the SEC on October 1, 2021. Once the merger is complete, Nextdoor will be a public company owned by its shareholders.
The merger values Nextdoor at about $4.3 billion. Current holders of Nextdoor stock options will receive 3.1047 shares of the new publicly traded Nextdoor for each share they own of “Old Nextdoor” common stock, according to documents filed with the SEC.
The Khosla SPAC is currently listed on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol “KVSB.” After the transaction is completed, the combined company will be listed under the ticker symbol “KIND.”
Facebook owns a Nextdoor competitor, Neighborhoods.
Although Facebook doesn’t own Nextdoor, it did launch its own similar app earlier this year. Facebook’s Neighborhoods section in its app is virtually a clone of Nextdoor. Users can connect with their neighbors to complain about barking dogs, porch pirates, or lost kittens.
“Facebook Neighborhoods is a dedicated space within the Facebook app designed to help you connect with your neighbors, participate in your local community and discover new places nearby,” the company said in a May 5 blog post.
Facebook originally made Neighborhoods available in Canada with plans to roll it out to select U.S. cities eventually.
Nextdoor co-founder Nirav Tolia has a net worth of $50 million.
Nextdoor has made co-founder and former CEO Tolia a very wealthy man. Tolia’s net worth is estimated at $50 million, according to the website Apumone.
Launched in 2011, Nextdoor is now used by one in three households in 11 countries worldwide. The app has over 29 million active users connecting with their neighbors each week.
Tolia retired as Nextdoor's CEO in July 2018 and passed the reins onto former Square CFO Friar. He continues to serve on the company’s board of directors.
“The future is exceptionally bright for Nextdoor,” Tolia wrote in an email to the Nextdoor team about his decision to retire. “We’ve never been more well-positioned to achieve our potential, both as a business and force for good in the world.”
How can you buy stock in Nextdoor?
Once the merger between Nextdoor and the KVSB blank-check company is complete, you can buy shares in Nextdoor through any online or traditional broker. The company will trade on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol “KIND.”