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Bending Spoons sees adjusted earnings doubling to $1.4

billion

in 2026

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CEO warns of AI bubble, likens it to early 2000s internet

bubble

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Urges EU deregulation to support startups

By Elvira Pollina

MILAN, Nov 13 (Reuters) - Italian tech company Bending

Spoons could list as early as next year, when it expects to

double adjusted earnings after buying video streaming platform

Vimeo ( VMEO ) and web portal AOL, its chief executive told Reuters.

In a wide-ranging interview, one of Europe's leading tech

investors and operators joined other business leaders in warning

about the risk of an artificial intelligence bubble, and urged

Europe to focus on deregulation to retain innovative companies.

"I don't know if we'll list next year, but we're ready.

Every year could be the right one," CEO Luca Ferrari said.

Should it decide to go public, Bending Spoons will probably

list in the United States, where tech companies tend to achieve

higher valuations, he added.

After closing the AOL and the Vimeo ( VMEO ) deals, Bending Spoons

expects its adjusted earnings before interest, taxes,

depreciation and amortisation to reach $1.4 billion next year,

from $700 million in 2025, Ferrari said.

AI BUBBLE RISK

The company has grown by buying and revamping storied

digital firms such as file-sharing service WeTransfer and

note-taking tool Evernote. It was valued at $11 billion in a

funding round in October.

Ferrari drew parallels between the AI sector today and

conditions that preceded the dot.com crash of the early 2000s.

"Alongside a few solid projects and companies with real

value and potentially reasonable - if a bit high - valuations,

there are a lot of worthless ventures being valued at absurdly

high levels," he said, without naming any firms.

He added that Bending Spoons preferred to invest in

companies that had been slow to adopt AI, and then use the

technology to improve their products.

At Vimeo ( VMEO ), the plan is for AI to automate time-consuming

processes such as converting video formats, generating

subtitles, and automatic translation.

For AOL, the immediate focus will be on improving content

recommendations to boost advertising performance, before

modernising its email service to match leading competitors.

Ferrari, who co-founded Bending Spoons in 2013, said the

European Union's efforts to create a single set of rules for

startups to operate across the 27-country bloc were

"well-intentioned, but flawed".

"First, there should be a move to aggressively deregulate

the framework across all EU countries, and only then would it

become value-adding to harmonize whatever rules are left," he

said.

Bending Spoons employs over 1,000 people, with around 1,250

more joining from Vimeo ( VMEO ) and AOL, mostly based in the United

States.

"We may implement some efficiencies at Vimeo ( VMEO ) and AOL where

necessary. But we are in a growth phase," Ferrari said, adding

that the company was considering opening offices in Madrid and

Warsaw.