July 7, 2021
First Listings Coming Soon for Long-Term Stock Exchange
It’s been a while since John blogged about the Long-Term Stock Exchange (LTSE) – it’s backed by several Silicon Valley power players and aims to attract long-term investors. Companies listed on the LTSE commit to strong ESG stances and are expected to promote transparency. The LTSE started trading stocks last September, and until now, there haven’t been any companies listed on LTSE but the WSJ recently reported that it landed its first listings. In August, Twilio Inc. and Asana Inc. will become the fist two companies to dual list on the LTSE, each company is also listed on the NYSE.
The companies and the exchange hope the listings will be a signal that their stocks should appeal to long-term investors, potentially reeling in some of the hundreds of billions of dollars stashed in funds dedicated to environmental, social and governance investing. It also would lend credence to LTSE, which has long been embraced by venture capitalists and tech founders.
In terms of transparency, for companies listed on the LTSE, it means they’re not only expected to make various corporate governance commitments, but they’re also expected to solidify the commitments as policies so that LTSE can monitor them. Even with commitments to ESG and transparency, critics don’t like the dual-class share structure. Reuters reports that Twilio and Asana plan to do away with the dual-class structure sometime in the next 7-10 years, whereas many investors would prefer to see companies ditch the structure within a set amount of time.
– Lynn Jokela