When corporate messaging service Slack goes public today via
direct listing it will mark the next stage in what is likely to
be a new era for the US equities market. By choosing a direct
listing over a more traditional initial public offering (IPO),
the San Francisco-based company is only the second large
corporate to do so, following Swedish music streaming service
Spotify in April 2018.
According to John Tuttle, vice chairman and chief commercial
officer at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), where Slack has
chosen to list, the overall success of Spotify's direct listing
last year has opened the floodgates to companies with similar
profiles to list on its exchange using this technique.
"A direct listing isn't for every company. It really depends
on the profile of the company and what they are hoping to
achieve by coming to the market," he told IFLR. "There have
been companies...