Atlassian is now officially an American company

NASDAQ-listed Australian software venture Atlassian has moved its parent company from the United Kingdom to the US.

Atlassian (Nasdaq: TEAM) announced plans for the shift in February. The workplace collaboration business originally set up in the UK in 2014 ahead of its listing on the NASDAQ in 2015. At the time the company said it was for great access to capital.

Now Atlassian says the move to the US “will increase access to a broader set of investors, support inclusion in additional stock indices, improve financial reporting comparability with industry peers, streamline its corporate structure, and provide more flexibility in accessing capital”.

The company said it does not anticipate any impact on employees, day-to-day operations, or services from the shift.

The UK High Court signed off on the move last week, with Atlassian Corporation becoming the new Delaware incorporated holding company of Atlassian Corporation Plc and its subsidiaries.

As a consequence, the last day of trading in the Atlassian Corporation Plc Class A ordinary shares on the Nasdaq was September 30, with those Class A and Class B ordinary shares cancelled and exchanged for common stock of Atlassian Corporation of the corresponding class. Trading in those shares under the ticker TEAM began on Monday, October 3. Atlassian Corporation Plc became a subsidiary of Atlassian Corporation.

Atlassian Corporation will be subject to the reporting requirements of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The last 12 months have been torrid for the share price of the 20-year-old company, which has never finished a financial year in the black.

Atlassian shares have fallen around 40% over the past year, staging a small rally in recent weeks, amid a high of US$483 and low of $159 over the last 52 weeks.

The falls have wiped around 25% – US$5 billion – from the personal wealth of cofounders Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar, which dropped from around US$20 billion each in February to around US$14.7 billion now.

SEC filings show both Cannon-Brookes Farquhar each sold 8614 Class A shares on Monday, valued at around US$1.86 million each, as part of previously announced planned sales.

The shift to the US comes as Atlassian gets a recruitment drive underway in Australia, looking to hire 1,032 R&D employees. A roadshow kicking off in Sydney’s CBD today will travel to Canberra, Wollongong, Melbourne, Adelaide, Newcastle, Brisbane, Gold Coast, and Sunshine Coast over the next three weeks to sell the Atlassian story to potential recruits. 

NOW READ: Atlassian wants to hire 5,000 more Aussie staff