The Slack logo displayed outside the New York Stock Exchange during the company's direct listing on June 20, 2019.The initial public offering of Slack Technologies Inc, the fast-growing workplace messaging and communication platform, opened at a price of $38.50 per share, valuing it at more than $23 billion, well above the $16 billion reference point set by the New York Stock Exchange.
“We think a direct listing is a more effective and efficient way to get to a normalized level of supply and demand without the constraints of an IPO,” said Allen Shim, Slack’s chief financial officer. Spotify’s direct listing in April 2018 was perceived as a success at the time, with a healthy number of buyers and sellers.
Revenues for the San Francisco-based Slack soared more than 80 per cent to $400 million in 2018, but it reported losses from operations of $143.85 million. It has more than 90 million users but so far has only around 100,000 paid customers.