SEC filing: online jobs marketplace ZipRecruiter plans to go public via a direct listing; in 2020, ZipRecruiter had a net income of $86M on revenue of $418.1M
As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on April 23 … Kia Kokalitcheva / Axios : ZipRecruiter files to go public Reuters : Job portal ZipRecruiter files to go public via direct listing Tweets: @jstrauss : The amazing @emiliemc is on the Board of $PROSY, which made the largest & most profitable block trade ever on April 8, she's also the President & COO of $COIN, which had the #7 largest IPO ever on April 14, oh and she's also on the Board of ZipRecruiter. Not luck or coincidence. https://twitter.com/...
Context & Ripple Effects
ZipRecruiter is taking the direct-listing route into the public markets rather than a conventional underwritten IPO, and its SEC filing shows why it can: the jobs marketplace was already profitable in 2020, with $86M of net income on $418.1M of revenue. It arrives on the strength of private-market validation too — its $156M Series B led by Wellington Management and IVP in 2018 reportedly valued the company around $1B.
The filing also lands mid-window for recruitment platforms specifically: within weeks, Kanzhun, owner of Chinese job platform Boss Zhipin, filed to raise as much as $912M in a US IPO, making online hiring one of the more crowded categories of the 2021 listing season.
First-order effects
- Existing shareholders and employees gain liquidity without the company issuing new shares — unlike Kanzhun's concurrent $912M IPO, ZipRecruiter's direct listing raises no primary capital.
Second-order effects
- A profitable marketplace listing without underwriters pressures rival job portals heading for the market to show comparable bottom-line numbers, since ZipRecruiter's filing makes profitability the benchmark for the category.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, direct listings become a credible default exit for cash-generating consumer and business marketplaces, shifting pricing power from investment banks to companies whose financials are strong enough to skip the roadshow.
The trend: Profitable online marketplaces are increasingly bypassing traditional IPO underwriting via direct listings during 2021's crowded listing window.