![]() ![]() In Slack’s case, it’s benefited from both its globally renowned brand and Wall Street’s insatiable desire to invest in SaaS. According to SharesPost, enterprise SaaS IPOs are trading, on average, at more than 100% above their IPO price.ĭirect listings are a rather risky path to the public markets because of its unproven nature. Of the tech businesses to go public in 2019, the enterprise SaaS IPOs (Zoom, PagerDuty, etc.) have performed best. Slack’s successful opening isn’t surprising. Other key shareholders include Social Capital, which owns a stake worth $2 billion, Andreessen Horowitz ($2.6 billion), SoftBank ($1.4 billion) and Slack co-founder Cal Henderson ($646 million). Accel, its largest shareholder, boast a stake worth a whopping $4.6 billion. Slack co-founder and chief executive officer Stewart Butterfield is now a billionaire, having held on to an 8.6% stake worth $1.6 billion at the opening price. Instead, companies are able to bypass the exorbitant fees associated with initial public offerings, like completing a roadshow and hiring investment bankers, and begin trading by selling existing shares held by investors, insiders and employees. Slack on Thursday became the second large venture capital-backed business to complete a direct listing, an alternative path to the public markets that allows businesses to go public without selling new shares of its stock. ![]() Slack’s market cap now sits well above $20 billion, or nearly 3 times its most recent private valuation of $7 billion. The stock had climbed as high as $42 in intraday trading. Slack, founded in 2009 as Tiny Speck, closed up 48.5% Thursday at $38.62 per share. The workplace communication software juggernaut debuted on the New York Stock Exchange up 48% at $38.50 per share after reports emerged Wednesday night that the business had agreed to a reference price of $26 per share. It was a historic day for Slack (NYSE: WORK). ![]()
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