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After months of rumors, team chat leader Slack files for IPO
Following months of rumors about its stock market aspirations, Slack Technologies Inc. today revealed that it has confidentially put in the paperwork for an initial public offering.
The team chat provider didn’t share any specifics in the brief IPO announcement. But quite a few details have leaked via recent media reports, including the state of Slack’s finances as it prepares to become a publicly-traded firm.
Last month, The Information obtained internal documents showing that the company had generated revenues of $221 million in the 12 months through January 2018. Slack reportedly expects to achieve a positive cash flow this year, an important step toward profitability.
The same leaked documents revealed that Slack had $900 million in cash on hand as of October 2018. This represents some three-quarters of the total outside funding the company has raised to date, which suggests it’s probably not in too big a hurry to go public. Recent reports indicate that Slack has been carefully weighing its options to determine the best course of action.
Word emerged in December that the company hired Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to underwrite the IPO. However, it was reported last month that Slack has been exploring the possibility of filing for a direct listing, an unusual, potentially riskier type of public offering in which there no underwriters are involved. The company is said to targeting a valuation as high as $10 billion with its public debut.
Wall Street may very well fulfill that wish, judging by Slack’s reportedly strong balance sheet and its continued growth. The company last week passed 10 million active daily users a mere five months after it hit the 8 million mark. Slack’s paying customer base also grew 50 percent during that period, to 85,000 accounts, and now includes 87 of the companies on the Fortune 100 list.
The team chat provider’s stock market debut is one of several hotly anticipated IPOs expected to take place this year. Uber Technologies Inc. also filed for a public offering recently and is said to be targeting a valuation as high as $120 billion, while smaller rival Lyft Inc. is hot on its heels.
Photo: Scott Schiller/Flickr
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