This week, Slack alluded to an upcoming IPO, which would elevate its status to a major player in the B2B tech market. The company has reached a $7 billion valuation.
"2019 could end up being a blockbuster year for tech IPOs," said CB Insights managing intelligence analyst Matthew Wong. "Airbnb, Pinterest, and Slack - they would be among the largest venture-backed IPOs we've really seen in the last 10 years."
The key reason behind Slack's success, especially relative to major players such as Google (NASDAQ: GOOGL), Salesforce (NYSE: CRM) and Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO), has been the ease with which one can plug in other services through the app. This convenience has made the company a pioneer in the enterprise chat space.
However, one of these tech behemoths could actually buy out Slack and serve as its ticket to cash out through a multi-billion dollar exit opportunity.
"Is there any reason for Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) not to buy Slack for $20 billion? Seems like a perfect fit and at $20 billion could be a bargain," tweeted analyst Jay Yarrow.
On the other hand, Slack could stick with its growth plans and continue to add value for a host of smaller investors, who are attracted to its direct listing feature, especially because it is extra appealing for brands with strong consumer awareness and a need to heighten servicing channels.
"There's a fascination with the direct listing, especially after Spotify," Wong said.
That said, Ron Miller of TechCrunch believes that "...this centralized hub has been a dream of communications tools for most of the 21st century. It began with enterprise IM tools in the early 2000s, and progressed to Enterprise 2.0 tools in the 2007 time frame. That period culminated in 2012 when Microsoft bought Yammer for $1.2 billion, the only billion-dollar exit for that generation of tools."