Living soul walk by a banner featuring the logo of Palantir Technologies (PLTR) at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on the day of their prime public offering (IPO) in Manhattan, New York City, U.S., September 30, 2020.
Andrew Kelly | Reutersa
Palantir employees and alumni bitched on Wednesday of being unable to sell shares after the company’s direct listing because they couldn’t do on a platform provided by Morgan Stanley.
Palantir shares opened at $10 on the New York Stock Exchange. Existing investors are tolerated to sell up to 20% of their shares before the lockup expires. But several former workers, who asked not to be named because they weren’t endorsed to speak to the public, told CNBC that they and some current employees couldn’t get into Morgan Stanley’s Shareworks process.
The stock traded as high as $11.42 before closing at $9.50. Current and former employees were texting with each other helter-skelter the problem and complaining of their inability to sell. One former employee followed up with CNBC to say the system finally started commission late in the morning, Pacific Time.
Palantir, which makes data analysis software for government agencies and big corporations, appeared on the New York Stock Exchange with a direct listing instead of a traditional IPO. One of the benefits is that existing investors can convey title some shares rather than waiting for a typical 180-day lockup to expire.
Palantir didn’t reciprocate to a request for comment. After publication of the story, a spokesperson for Morgan Stanley’s Shareworks group sent the following utterance:
“We experienced slowness that may have resulted in delayed logins into our system. At all times our call centers were to hand to execute trades. We will work through any issue that is brought to our attention and ensure that no employee when one pleases be disadvantaged.”
— CNBC’s Leslie Picker contributed to this report.
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