Perfect Corp to Go Private at $2 a Share, Exit NYSE

Perfect Corp Agrees to Go Private at $2 a Share, Ending a Short NYSE Run

The AI beauty try-on company that listed via SPAC at a roughly $1 billion valuation in 2022 will be taken private by its founder for about $200 million — a steep round-trip for a business that is still growing.

Jul 11, 2026Source: Business Wire

On July 10, 2026, Perfect Corp (NYSE: PERF), a maker of AI- and AR-powered "virtual try-on" software for beauty and fashion, agreed to go private at $2.00 per share in cash — quietly ending a public-market run that began less than four years ago.

The terms

The price is about a 48% premium to Perfect Corp's closing price on March 17, the last trading day before an initial buyout proposal, and a step up from that opening $1.95 offer. Against roughly 101.8 million ordinary shares, it implies equity value of about $200 million. A special committee of independent directors negotiated and unanimously recommended the deal.

The buyer

The acquirer, ProjectNY, is a Cayman entity controlled by Chairwoman and CEO Alice Chang. She and CyberLink — the company Perfect Corp was spun out of — already control about 53% of shares and 81% of the voting power, enough to carry the required two-thirds shareholder vote. The buyout is financed entirely from Perfect Corp's own cash; rollover shareholders receive no cash and keep equity in the private company.

What Perfect Corp does

Founded in 2015, Perfect Corp sells cloud and API "virtual try-on" tools to beauty and fashion brands and runs consumer YouCam apps. It went public via a SPAC merger in October 2022 at a pro-forma valuation of roughly $1 billion. Notably, the business is not failing: fiscal 2025 revenue rose about 15% to $69.2 million, and its operating loss narrowed to $1.7 million.

The round-trip

That growth makes the exit price stark. A company that debuted at a ~$1 billion valuation, with a $10 reference price, is being taken private at $2.00 a share and roughly $200 million in equity — an erosion of around 80% in less than four years. It is the latest 2022-vintage SPAC to leave the public markets, and an insider-led buyout in which minority Class A holders, facing a locked-up controlling vote, have little leverage to push for more.

Why It Matters

Perfect Corp is a clean case of the public market's disillusionment with 2022-era SPAC listings: a still-growing, near-breakeven AI company valued below what its founder will pay to buy it back. The structure — an insider who already controls 81% of the vote financing the deal from the company's own cash — leaves minority holders with $2.00 and little recourse, and signals more small-cap AI/AR names may follow the same path off the exchange.