Slack Stock Surges 48% in Unusual Direct Listing Debut
Slack jumps nearly 50% in its first day of trading on the New York Stock Exchange, reaching a $19.5 billion market cap. The company bypasses a traditional IPO to allow existing shareholders to sell shares directly to the public.
Slack surges 48.5% in its public market debut on the New York Stock Exchange as shares open at $38.50. This massive jump pushes the workplace messaging company's market capitalization to $19.5 billion, a significant increase over its previous private valuation of $17 billion. The stock trades under the ticker symbol WORK.
Instead of pursuing a traditional initial public offering, Slack utilizes an unusual direct listing route similar to Spotify. In this process, banks do not underwrite the offering and the company does not issue new shares or raise additional capital. Slack simply registers existing shares so current investors can sell them on the open market, a viable option since the company holds over $800 million in cash.
The NYSE sets a reference price of $26, but the actual opening price emerges naturally from the buy and sell orders collected by broker-dealers. Slack debuts with a dual-class share structure that keeps voting power concentrated among top shareholders like Accel, Andreessen Horowitz, and CEO Stewart Butterfield, who owns an 8.6% stake in the business.