In context: It's no secret that Slack is one of the most popular collaboration and communication tools out there. Indeed, the software has done so well for itself that it essentially ate the competition in mid-2018, when competing tools HipChat and Stride were discontinued following a partial acquisition from Slack. In December, we reported that Slack could be considering a public offering. Given its alleged $10 billion valuation (at the time) and growing user base, that news probably didn't come as much of a surprise to most of our readers. Now, as spotted by The New York Times, Slack is turning its ambitions into a reality. The company on Monday announced that it had filed paperwork for a direct IPO listing. Direct listings differ from standard IPOs in one key area - rather than selling stock to investors in advance, direct IPOs allow companies and investors to begin selling and buying shares on an exchange immediately; without waiting for a "lockup period" to end. If you were a regular TechSpot reader in early 2018, you may remember that popular music streaming service Spotify also opted for a direct listing when it went public. Regardless of the type of IPO Slack is pursing here, the main point is that, after an SEC review takes place, Slack will officially be a public company. Its executives will be able to reap all the rewards (and headaches) that come with that for years to come. Interestingly, Slack's value has risen from the previously mentioned $10 billion estimate. Now, the company is expected to be worth around $13 billion, which is a pretty significant jump.<doc-sep>Yes, the major public clouds offer a lot. But what you may not know are the limitations, and how open clouds make the difference. Elevate your enterprise data technology and strategy at Transform 2021. Slack has finally filed to go public, in what will be one of the most hotly anticipated initial public offerings (IPOs) from the technology industry in 2019. The San Francisco-based cloud collaboration platform, which was launched back in 2013, was one of a number of technology companies expected to go public in 2019. Other notable names include Lyft and Uber, both of which confidentially filed for their respective IPOs back in December, while Pinterest and Airbnb are also expected to announce their arrivals on the public stock market later this year. Slack is continuing with this recent trend by filing its Form S-1 confidentially too — the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) started allowing companies of any size to file confidentially back in 2017, having previously restricted this to smaller firms with revenue of less than $1 billion. “The public listing is expected to take place after the SEC completes its review process, subject to market and other conditions,” Slack said in a press release. A Reuters report from December indicated that Slack, which has raised around $1 billion in venture capital (VC) funding, had hired Goldman Sachs for its IPO, and was seeking a valuation of “well over” $10 billion. Additionally, Slack could become the second major technology company in the space of a year to pursue a direct listing, according to reports, after Spotify did so last year.<doc-sep>This company wants to make brushing your teeth fun How this Austin brewery is getting creative with its space during the pandemic People are brewing fancier coffee at home. That's good for this company This company makes sure you never run out of coffee Beatrice Dixon speaks onstage during ESSENCE + New Voices Entrepreneur Summit And Target Holiday Market at West End Production Park on December 15, 2019 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Paras Griffin/Getty Images for ESSENCE) How these Black women raised more than $1 million in VC funding This gym is actually opening studios during the pandemic This vegan restaurant is actually opening locations during the pandemic How Slack changed the way we work Correction: The original version of this story incorrectly stated the price Microsoft offered to buy Slack. (CNN Business) — Slack, the popular workplace communication platform, has filed confidential paperwork to go public. On Monday, the company announced it had submitted its registration for a “proposed public listing” with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The Wall Street Journal previously reported Slack, like Spotify before it, would go public through a direct listing instead of raising new capital. In April, Spotify listed its existing shares directly on the New York Stock Exchange without having underwriters price out the shares based on anticipated demand. A direct listing could benefit people who work at Slack because employees and longtime shareholders could sell stock on day one. In the case of a traditional IPO, there is a share lockup period of months before they can sell. Slack CEO and co-founder Stewart Butterfield is known for saying the company is opportunistic about capitalizing on people’s interest in the service – whether it’s from investors wanting to pour money into the company or expanding Slack into new countries. The company has been vocal about accepting new investment, even when it has yet to tap the vast majority of money in its warchest. To date, it has raised about $1.2 billion from investors including SoftBank and Accel. In August, the company was valued at $7.1 billion. Slack’s messaging service helps employees better collaborate on work. It’s been called an “email killer,” providing users a chatroom-like service to cut down on cluttered inboxes. The service has 10 million daily active users globally. Japan is its second largest market with half a million active daily users in the country as of July. Slack relies on businesses to sign up for a paid version of the service to make money. The company said it has 85,000 paid customers worldwide. It continues to face competition from bigger tech players, including Google’s Hangouts, Facebook’s Workplace, and Microsoft’s Teams. Microsoft was reportedly once interested in buying Slack for about $8 billion before it created Teams. Slack, which launched in San Francisco in 2013, is one of several tech “unicorns” – the term for privately-held startups valued at $1 billion or more – slated to go public this year. Uber, Lyft and Airbnb are also expected to IPO in 2019.<doc-sep>NEW A vastly improved search engine helps you find the latest on companies, business leaders, and news more easily.<doc-sep>
Slack is getting ready to go public. The ubiquitous work collaboration tool known for its cheerful logo and do-gooder ethos announced the move today (Feb 4), but did not disclose details of its listing plans. Since its founding 10 years ago, Slack has become a Silicon Valley powerhouse valued at $7.1 billion, according to private equity research firm PitchBook. Last year, it said it had 8 million daily active users and 3 million paid users. Today’s announcement indicated Slack had filed draft documents with the US Securities and Exchange Commission confidentially. The listing is “expected to take place after the SEC completes its review process,” Slack said. Last month, the Wall Street Journal reported Slack intends to pursue a direct listing, rather than list through the traditional process of selling shares at a set price and securing investors in advance. Instead, shareholders (rather than the company) can sell their shares directly in the public offering. If Slack chooses this path, it will follow in the footsteps of Spotify’s successful direct listing last year. The move allowed the company to avoid steep fees from investment banks, and lockup periods for insider shareholders. Direct listings make sense for companies that don’t need to raise funds, but want to give employees and early investors the opportunity to cash out. Founded in 2009, Slack emerged from the ruins of a failed game company called Tiny Speck, which shut down in 2012. Tiny Speck’s team was dissatisfied with the communication tools available at the time and built what ultimately became Slack along the way. Its whimsical aesthetic and developer-friendly design made it an instant hint with software startups, newsrooms, and soon many others. Early adopters spread the gospel to small and mediums businesses, and then Slack took a shot at the enterprise space. The company has grown from 22 people in 2011 to more than 1,000 today. Slack is now the dominant workplace communication and collaboration tool. Over the last five years, it managed to eclipse almost every major competitor in the space. One of the largest, Atlassian, offered HipChat and later Stride. But Atlassian announced it is retiring both products by this month. and leaving the communication business entirely in favor of project management. A “partnership” Atlassian struck with Slack last year sent its former rival the IP behind HipChat and Stride, and migrated its customers over to Slack, which also got a small equity investment from Atlassian in the deal. That leaves Microsoft’s Teams. In 2016, Microsoft tried to acquire Slack for $8 billion, and failed. Microsoft said last March that Teams is used by 200,000 organizations, up from 50,000 when it launched in 2017.