Mutual Funds Mark Down Unicorns. So What?

Mutual Funds Mark Down Unicorns. So What? by Nizar Tarhuni, PitchBook There’s been quite a storm set off with recent media reports covering the markdowns that Fidelity Investments has undertaken for private companies in its mutual funds. A couple of the notable valuation stake write-offs in Fidelity’s portfolio include Snapchat, marked down 25% since May, and Dropbox, marked down just under 20% in the same timeframe. While these markdowns have caused a big reaction from much of the media, the valuation write-offs aren’t as overly indicative of an actual decline in the performance of these privately held companies—rather simply an accounting measure these funds have…