Chat app Slack files for public offering

Demand for unicorn’s stock likely to be high

SAN FRANCISCO— Slack, a workplace messaging company, said Monday that it had confidentially filed paperwork for an initial public offering, joining the growing number of technology startups heading to the stock market.

Slack, which is based in San Francisco, gave no details about the offering’s timing and said it was awaiting a standard review of its paperwork by the Securities and Exchange Commission. The move was expected given that Slack’s chief executive, Stewart Butterfield, had long indicated that he planned to take the company public. Slack recently hired Goldman Sachs to lead on the offering.

Slack’s confidential filing comes amid a rush by privately held companies to go public this year. Many of these startups, which have been highly valued by private investors, are part of a generation of technology companies known as unicorns. Public share sales by the companies are expected to create a bonanza of riches in Silicon Valley for entrepreneurs and venture capital investors.

In December, ride-hailing companies Uber and Lyft filed confidential paperwork for their own public offerings. Their efforts stalled temporarily last month when a government shutdown hampered the SEC’s ability to review the companies’ registration documents. Other tech companies expected to go public this year include online scrapbooking firm Pinterest. Slack declined to comment beyond its statement about the confidential filing.

There is likely to be a strong demand for Slack stock. The company was valued at $7.1 billion (U.S.) by private investors last year, but in recent weeks investment firms have offered to buy its shares at a price that values Slack at $13 billion, according to a person with knowledge of the details who was not authorized to speak publicly.

Slack has little need for cash. It raised $427 million in new financing in August, a year after raising $250 million.