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

What are the top global risks in trade, finance, and technology as of mid-2023?

Andy Yeh Alpha

2023-05-31 11:27:00 Wednesday ET

What are the top global risks in trade, finance, and technology as of mid-2023?

What are the top global risks in trade, finance, and technology? In this macro report, we focus on the current global risks from inflation and growth con

+See More

Jim Cramer provides 5 key reasons against the purchase and use of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Ripple.

Becky Berkman

2017-11-23 10:42:00 Thursday ET

Jim Cramer provides 5 key reasons against the purchase and use of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Ripple.

As the TV host of Mad Money, Jim Cramer provides 5 key reasons against the purchase and use of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. First, no one knows the ano

+See More

Trump tariffs begin to bite U.S. corporate profits from Ford and Harley-Davidson to Caterpillar and Walmart etc.

James Campbell

2018-10-25 10:36:00 Thursday ET

Trump tariffs begin to bite U.S. corporate profits from Ford and Harley-Davidson to Caterpillar and Walmart etc.

Trump tariffs begin to bite U.S. corporate profits from Ford and Harley-Davidson to Caterpillar and Walmart etc. U.S. corporate profit growth remains high a

+See More

The new Brexit deal can boost British pound appreciation and macroeconomic optimism.

Fiona Sydney

2019-11-13 11:34:00 Wednesday ET

The new Brexit deal can boost British pound appreciation and macroeconomic optimism.

The new Brexit deal can boost British pound appreciation and economic optimism. British prime minister Boris Johnson wins the parliamentary vote on his new

+See More

Successful founders focus on their continuous growth, passion, perseverance, and the collective wisdom of most team members.

Laura Hermes

2020-06-17 09:23:00 Wednesday ET

Successful founders focus on their continuous growth, passion, perseverance, and the collective wisdom of most team members.

Successful founders focus on their continuous growth, passion, perseverance, and the collective wisdom of most team members. William Ferguson (2013) &

+See More

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell indicates that the central bank would resume Treasury purchases to avoid turmoil in money markets.

James Campbell

2019-11-09 16:38:00 Saturday ET

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell indicates that the central bank would resume Treasury purchases to avoid turmoil in money markets.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell indicates that the central bank would resume Treasury purchases to avoid turmoil in money markets. Powell indicates t

+See More