The Wall Street Journal’s Saturday/Sunday, August 2-3, 2025 article, “Software IPO Left $3 Billion on Table” brought back the old debate about money being “left on the table” by issuers and investment bankers who underprice shares sold in an issuer’s IPO. The Wall Street Journal wrote, “Figma and selling shareholders raised $1.2 billion in the IPO. They could have pocketed much more had the initial shares, priced at $33 apiece, been priced higher.” It noted that Figma‘s shares jumped 250% in its first day of trading on July 31 to $115.50 per share, suggesting that its sale of about 37 million shares in the IPO could have been $3.0 billion more. At the close on August 1, 2025, the stock continued to rally to $122 per share, before declining by a third to settle at $88.60 on August 4, 2025.
A debt initial public offering (IPO) provides a viable alternative to the challenging traditional equity IPO to gain access to public markets for growth capital. For the right company at the right time under the right circumstances, it might make sense.
This article was originally published by Bloomberg Law, October 2019.
Letters to prospective investors like those included in the Lyft and Uber IPO prospectuses may be symbolic gestures by founders, chairpersons and CEOs to lead the selling effort, but nonetheless provide an insight into the unique mission, core beliefs and “karma” of today’s newest IPO companies, with the SEC closely monitoring the bounds of this informal disclosure.
Following withdrawal of its prior proposal to the SEC, the NYSE again seeks to ease certain listing standards for SPACs, which have seen a resurgence in recent years.
Despite the withdrawal of their proposals to the SEC, the Exchanges continue to see healthy gains by SPACs and their sponsors.
Spotify uses alternative method to “go public,” forgoing the traditional initial public offering process.
S&P Dow Jones Indices bars companies from joining its key indexes if they have multiple share classes.