The SoftBank, Comcast and Alphabet-backed communication platform developer saw its shares pop and its market cap climb nearly 50% to $19.5bn following its direct listing.

Slack, the US-based communications platform developer backed by telecommunications firm SoftBank, internet technology group Alphabet and mass media group Comcast, listed its shares on the New York Stock Exchange yesterday.

The company went public through a direct listing that involved it issuing no new shares and employing no underwriters, making about 118 million shares available for trading.

NYSE set a guidance price of $26.00 for Slack’s shares, but they opened at $38.50 and closed at $38.62 yesterday, lifting its market…

Robert Lavine

Robert Lavine is special features editor for Global Venturing.