From Bloomberg:
Palantir Technologies Inc. is planning to go public through a direct listing of its shares in late September, according to people familiar with the matter.
The company, which sells data analysis software used by governments and large companies worldwide, might still change its plans, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information wasn’t public.A company spokeswoman declined to comment.A direct listing would allow the company’s current investors to sell their shares on the first day of trading rather than having to wait for a lock-up period to expire, as would be required in a traditional initial public offering. Unlike an IPO, though, the company doesn’t raise capital in a direct listing.Palantir is in the process of raising $961 million, $550 million of which it has already secured, according to a July filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. That includes a $500 million investment from Sompo Japan Nipponkoa Holdings Inc. and $50 million from Fujitsu Ltd.
Those sums make listing the stock directly a more accessible path for Palantir, following in the footsteps of Spotify Technology SA and Slack Technologies Inc.Billionaire Peter Thiel founded Palantir in 2003 with a group of business partners including Alex Karp, the chief executive officer. In 2015, Palantir reached a valuation of $20 billion, though in recent years stockholders have sold blocks of shares for much less.The company told investors this year that it expects to break even in 2020 on revenue of about $1 billion....
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