What’s Next for Direct Listings and IPOs?

What’s all the buzz around direct listings? How are companies weighing IPOs vs. alternatives to raising capital in the public markets? Those questions were the focus of a recent panel at the Goldman Sachs Private Innovative Company Conference. Goldman Sachs’ Will Connolly, Spotify CFO Barry McCarthy, and Latham & Watkins partner Greg Rodgers sat down with Exchanges at Goldman Sachs host Jake Siewert to talk about Spotify’s own history with direct listings and what the future may hold for other companies planning to go public. “Companies’ needs and objectives are changing,” Connolly said, pointing to how technology has resulted in companies scaling much faster than in the past. “And when those needs and objectives change, it makes sense that people would seek out new ways to enter the public markets.” Adding context to the discussion, which was taped live in Las Vegas, Goldman Sachs’ David Ludwig joins Jake in the studio to talk more about the evolving needs of clients and how the firm is partnering to meet their objectives.