Palantir Technologies Inc (PLTR)

[JohnCM]

Palantir Grabs $21 Billion Valuation, but Debut Comes With a Hiccup

Technical issues prevented some existing investors from unloading shares for much of Wednesday afternoon

By Corrie Driebusch and Maureen Farrell
Sept. 30, 2020

Palantir Technologies Inc. and Asana Inc. made history by both completing direct listings on the New York Stock Exchange on the same day, a milestone for the little-tested way to go public.

But Palantir’s debut was mired by technical issues with Morgan Stanley software that prevented some existing investors in the company from unloading shares for much of the afternoon, according to people familiar with the matter, throwing into question whether there are more sellers waiting in the wings.

The data-mining company’s stock opened for trading at $10 a share around 1:40 p.m. New York time. Once it did, current and former employees of Palantir who wanted to sell some of their stake on the open market had difficulty doing so, these people said. Palantir employees use Morgan Stanley’s stock-plan business, called Shareworks, which suffered from technical difficulties Wednesday. The Shareworks platform is used by many companies, not just those going public via direct listings.

The problems eased late in the day, and the system was fully functional by 3:30 p.m. ET, according to a person familiar with the matter. Some individuals’ sell orders were able to be executed on the platform before the close of trading. Others said they struggled to sell their stock through the closing bell and were also unable to sell by phone.

By the time markets closed, Palantir’s stock was worth less than it was earlier in the day. The stock closed at $9.50—below its high of $11.42 and its first-trade price. Still, that netted the company a valuation of roughly $21 billion, and shares remained above the $7.31 and $9.17 average prices where they had changed hands in private trades in August and September, respectively.