Slack Says It's Filed To Go Public

Slack, the cloud-based messaging platform, has confidentially filed with regulators to go public in the U.S. "[Slack], previously reported to be pursuing a direct listing of its stock, said in a statement Monday that it had submitted a confidential filing with the [SEC]," reports Bloomberg. "Slack is working with Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and Allen & Co. on the share sale." From the report: Slack plans to forgo a traditional initial public offering and instead intends to sell its shares to bidders in a direct listing, a person familiar with the matter said last month. While that would preclude the company from raising money by issuing new shares for sale, it would avoid some typical underwriting fees and allow current investors to sell shares without a lock-up period. The company is choosing the unusual method for going public because it doesn't need the cash or publicity of an IPO, the person said at the time. The share sale, which might take place toward mid-year, could value Slack at more than $7 billion, according to the person, who added that the San Francisco-based company's plans could still change.

Comments

$7 billion dollars for a chat app?

[Anonymous Coward]

what a fucked up world we live in

And IPO means only one thing these days...

[Bohnanza]

...they have no way of making money.

Slackware is going public!

[future assassin]

Yes....

Trading Has Slowed...

[Thelasko]

due to all of the extra cruft and overhead involved with the Slack IPO. Most people say they are satisfied with traditional IPOs, but Slack says their IPO has new features that everyone will like.

Slack still the best of bad options

[SuperKendall]

Having tried a number of different team chat platforms, I have to say Slack still has a kind of commanding lead, even in just the basics of chat. I prefer it to anything else.

However it still is not the most pleasant or well organized thing at times, so I personally would be a bit reluctant to invest in Slack just because I feel like it's still possible some other company could figure out a better approach and overtake Slack someday.

LOL Slack is Dying Already

[sexconker]

it doesn't need the cash or publicity of an IPO

Yet here they are, going public, courting big players, floating a $7 billion estimation, and feeding these reports to the shill media.

Seems to me the current investors want OUT.

Not impressed

[o_ferguson]

I've had exactly one client who used Slack and insisted that I (a freelancer/telecommute) use it too. It was crap. A place for people to do everything that they should be doing with proper email chains, but in "chat" instead. So fucking stupid. I routinely refuse to use Slack or work for people who are bad at business enough to use Slack.