Slack: Direct listings are a bit more like IPOs than you think

A lack of underwriting or stabilization certainly makes Slack’s route to market different to the norm, but don’t be fooled into thinking there’s no old-fashioned art behind it.

Slack, a US messaging company, last week became the second big tech firm to use a direct listing as its route to the public markets.

And so came the excited chatter, just as it did with Spotify in April 2018: banks cut out of deals, the intermediators disintermediated! A bit like Google’s 2004 auction, but done right! The future of IPOs!