The facts about … Direct Iistings vs. IPOs

Article Excerpt

Most firms looking to go public launch an initial public offering, or IPO. That’s where they hire an investment firm to promote the new shares and underwrite the listing process. Spotify AB is a major Swedish-based music streaming service. Launched in 2008, it lets users listen on demand to a library of more than 30 million songs. Spotify now plans to bypass the traditional IPO process in favour of a rare direct listing on the New York exchange. The standard IPO is better suited to firms looking to raise capital, but it also has the potential to dilute the interest of current shareholders. With an IPO, Spotify would also have incurred sizable underwriting fees and other costs to promote the new offering to potential investors. That kind of help is likely unnecessary with a company as prominent as Spotify. As well, a traditional IPO would impose restrictions on when its current shareholders can sell their stock after the new listing. If the direct listing for Spotify…