This article is more than 1 year old

Millionaire staffers pop corks at Atlassian as Oz biz raises $462m

First day of IPO and shares soar by a third

The champagne must have been flowing at Australian developer Atlassian last night as the company's shares soared by 32 per cent on its first day of public trading, reportedly instantly turning 100 staffers into millionaires.

Shares of the Aussie software-as-a-service maker, which helps companies collaborate and manage their operations, were up almost one-third at $28 (£18) per share, with the company raising a total of $462m (£305m).

The Sydney-based company closed out the day with a market value of $5.8bn, well above its last private valuation of $3.3bn last year, reported Reuters.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, around 100 employees became millionaires overnight as a result of the IPO.

The company finally floated on the American stock exchange, NASDAQ, yesterday.

"There are going to be a hundred people who are going to be millionaires today — at least on paper," a former Atlassian employee told the paper.

Atlassian flogs project management wares and a document sharing/collaboration service without an enterprise sales force. Half its staff work in product design and development. It operates on a subscription model and has been profitable in every quarter since it founded in 2002.

Angela Eager, analyst at TechMarketView, noted the company is working in a hot area so its products are in demand, with third quarter net income expanding from $68m (£45m) to $102m (£67m). "As always the challenge is keeping the first day trading gains," she added. ®

More about

TIP US OFF

Send us news


Other stories you might like