What Is a Direct Listing?
On February 1, 2024, Chancellor Kathaleen St. J. McCormick of the Delaware Court of Chancery issued a decision refusing to dismiss stockholder claims against directors and officers of Coinbase Global, Inc. over their sales of...more
Companies that have been waiting to do their IPO until conditions improve are gearing up. In fact, EY predicts the global IPO market will turn around in 2024 due to some improvements in key macroeconomic factors and...more
On June 1, 2023, the United States Supreme Court issued a unanimous opinion that makes it more difficult for shareholders to bring Section 11 claims against companies that go public via direct listings. The case involved a...more
On June 1, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court (the Supreme Court) issued a much-anticipated decision in the case captioned Slack Technologies, LLC, fka Slack Technologies, Inc. (Slack), et al. v. Pirani (the Slack Decision), which...more
Non-US companies are attracted to going public on a US exchange for a variety of reasons, such as access to capital, increased liquidity, and in some cases, more flexible rules and regulations compared to other markets....more
Becoming a public company is a big undertaking for any private company; there is added complexity for foreign filers, which is to say private issuers incorporated under the laws of a country other than the United States. One...more
On Dec. 22, 2020, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved a proposed change to the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) listing rules that will allow a company, at the time of its initial listing on the NYSE, to...more
Executing a successful IPO or direct listing in the United States requires a significant amount of work. Much of this work has to be done well in advance of the anticipated date of the company’s organizational meeting with...more
Thanks to a 2018 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, the risk of IPO-related securities litigation has never been higher with class actions often brought by plaintiffs in both federal and state courts. With Congress not...more
Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati’s 2019 Technology and Life Sciences IPO Report presents analysis related to the closing of 87 initial public offerings completed by U.S.-based technology and life sciences issuers between...more
In 2019, we published analysis to help tech and life sciences companies navigate U.S. tax law changes, an evolving IP landscape and new privacy regulations such as the California Consumer Privacy Act. We also tracked venture...more
Direct listings have been a hot topic in the news lately, particularly in light of the recent submission of proposals to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) by the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) (and indications...more
Direct Listings: The What, The Why and Common Misconceptions - Spotify did it. Slack did it. Many other late-stage private technology companies are reported to be seriously considering doing it. Should yours? In this...more
In a direct listing, a company's outstanding shares are listed on a stock exchange without a primary or secondary underwritten offering. Existing security holders become free to sell shares on the stock exchange at...more
1. Experienced advisors - Choose experienced advisors, including lawyers, auditors and financial consultants (if necessary), and get them involved early. Advisors who work routinely with the SEC and investment bankers –...more