Direct Listings Resurface as Private Firms Weigh Skipping IPO

The revival in US initial public offerings and the return of the blank-check company are sparking interest in a long out of favor means for companies to go public: the direct listing.

Unlike a traditional IPO, direct listings don’t raise capital and provide existing share holders unfettered liquidity. Two of this year’s hottest stocks, Palantir Technologies Inc. and Coinbase Global Inc., used the unconventional path to market — which skips an extensive roadshow and paying expensive underwriting fees to Wall Street — during the Covid-19 heyday.