Spotify considers directly selling its shares to the retail public with no underwriter involvement.

Rose Prince

2018-01-08 10:37:00 Mon ET

Spotify considers directly selling its shares to the retail public with no underwriter involvement. The music-streaming company plans a direct list on NYSE in lieu of a hot IPO. This alternative procedure can be cheaper, faster, and less legally risky to the issuer. The issuer may then lose its first-day price run-up in a hot IPO, which seldom benefits anyone apart from the institutional investors who receive an initial allocation of shares. In contrast, most startups file for an IPO through investment banks. These underwriters round up institutional investors to buy the issuer's fresh shares in order to establish a fair market price. Through a promotional roadshow, the underwriters commit to covering these new shares in their due diligence and fair valuation. The underwriters receive a considerable bounty in the order of 3%-5% of the IPO price (e.g. $300 million fee-payment to Alibaba's underwriters).

As cash-rich companies such as Spotify, Uber, and Airbnb have little incentive to raise capital via IPOs, these cash cows prefer to directly list on stock exchanges. Spotify can thus bypass firm commitment on the part of IPO-fee-driven investment banks. Nevertheless, the direct list may expose Spotify to bear raid by short-sellers, little underwriter liability, and less blue-sky transparency. This direct list option may attract more unicorns into the U.S. public stock market.

 


If any of our AYA Analytica financial health memos (FHM), blog posts, ebooks, newsletters, and notifications etc, or any other form of online content curation, involves potential copyright concerns, please feel free to contact us at service@ayafintech.network so that we can remove relevant content in response to any such request within a reasonable time frame.

Blog+More

Barry Eichengreen compares the Great Depression of the 1930s and the Great Recession as historical episodes of economic woes.

Olivia London

2023-03-21 11:28:00 Tuesday ET

Barry Eichengreen compares the Great Depression of the 1930s and the Great Recession as historical episodes of economic woes.

Barry Eichengreen compares the Great Depression of the 1930s and the Great Recession as historical episodes of economic woes. Barry Eichengreen (2016)

+See More

Net stock issuance theory and practice

Becky Berkman

2022-05-25 09:31:00 Wednesday ET

Net stock issuance theory and practice

Net stock issuance theory and practice Net equity issuance can be in the form of initial public offering (IPO) or seasoned equity offering (SEO). This l

+See More

The Trump administration blames China for egregious currency misalignment.

Olivia London

2018-10-17 12:33:00 Wednesday ET

The Trump administration blames China for egregious currency misalignment.

The Trump administration blames China for egregious currency misalignment, but this criticism cannot confirm *currency manipulation* on the part of the Chin

+See More

Apple and Samsung are the archrivals for the title of the world's top smart phone maker.

Olivia London

2018-06-25 12:43:00 Monday ET

Apple and Samsung are the archrivals for the title of the world's top smart phone maker.

Apple and Samsung are the archrivals for the title of the world's top smart phone maker. The recent patent lawsuit settlement between Apple and Samsung

+See More

President Trump tweets that Apple can avoid tariff consequences by shifting its primary supply chain from China to America.

Olivia London

2018-09-11 18:36:00 Tuesday ET

President Trump tweets that Apple can avoid tariff consequences by shifting its primary supply chain from China to America.

President Trump tweets that Apple can avoid tariff consequences by shifting its primary supply chain from China to America. These Trump tariffs on another $

+See More

Disruptive innovators compete against luck by figuring out why customers hire products and services to accomplish specific jobs.

John Fourier

2020-05-14 12:35:00 Thursday ET

Disruptive innovators compete against luck by figuring out why customers hire products and services to accomplish specific jobs.

Disruptive innovators can better compete against luck by figuring out why customers hire products and services to accomplish jobs. Clayton Christensen, T

+See More