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To provide liquidity to employees and investors.
by nemothekid 8y ago
To provide liquidity to employees and investors.
- SketchySeaBeast 8y agoMore than the cash it currently has? It's a grab for an even bigger pile of money? edit: Ah, missed the employees angle.
- koolba 8y agoIt would be cash for individuals who till now have illiquid options or private stock. Not just the company’s war chest.
- 1123581321 8y agoThe company could only use cash to do dividends or share buybacks, and the company is worth more than its cash on hand (maybe 10-20x as much more in Slack’s case.) A public offering makes it possible for effectively every shareholder to sell their shares for the full value without the company having to make a strategic financial decision to return cash to shareholders.
- nemothekid 8y agoThe "cash" who has? The employees don't have cash - they have stock. You can't pay rent with stock. This is a good move by Slack to provide a return to the employees who have stuck with them.
- SketchySeaBeast 8y agoAh, ok, so the employees will be getting money for their stock? That makes sense now.
- shimms 8y agoIf they choose to sell it. Whilst markets exist for selling shares in private companies, it’s harder and there is a smaller pool of people looking to buy. On the public market, any shareholder can sell their shares (relatively) easily, and since it’s a public market the pool of potential buyers is much bigger. Employees don’t automatically get money for their shares, being public just makes it easier for them to if they decide they want to.
- icelancer 8y agoThey'll own stock they can trade publicly. It's their call now, rather than holding on to a bunch of fictional dollars.
- msalomon 8y agoThat seems like a dumb reason
- Johnny555 8y agoNot if you're an employee or investor.
- LeoNatan25 8y agoIf only the current economic system would encourage dividends rather than stock.
- icelancer 8y agoDividends do not solve this problem.
- pathseeker 8y agoWhat do you think dividends are paid on?
- aetherson 8y agoThey're the owners of the company. They get to (collectively) decide when they want to cash out.
- Tiktaalik 8y agoGood news for the Maserati dealerships in Vancouver which had been suffering recently from the Chinese government crackdown in moving money out of the country.