Initial public offering

An initial public offering (IPO) or stock market launch is a type of public offering. A public offering is any tradeable asset that is offered to the public. In an initial public offering, shares of stock in a company are sold to the general public, on a securities exchange, for the first time. Through this process, a private company transforms into a public company. Initial public offerings are used by companies to raise money for expansion and to become publicly traded enterprises. A company selling shares is never required to repay the money to the people who buy them.

The IPO of Alibaba, a Chinese technology company, was the largest IPO ever. Now, Saudi ARAMCO's 2019 IPO has become the largest one, by 25.6 billion dollars.^[1][2]

Before 2009, the United States was the leading issuer of IPOs in terms of total value. Since that time, however, China (Shanghai, Shenzhen and Hong Kong) has been the leading issuer. It raised up to US$73 billion until the end of November 2011. This was almost double the amount of money raised on the New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ combined.^[3]

1. Agricultural Bank of China US$22.1 billion (2010)^[4]
2. Industrial and Commercial Bank of China US$21.9 billion (2006)^[5]
3. American International Assurance US$20.5 billion (2010)^[6]
4. Visa Inc. US$19.7 billion (2008)^[7]
5. General Motors US$18.15 billion (2010)^[8]
6. Meta, Inc. US$16 billion (2012)^[9]

• Initial Public Offering (IPO) Definition and Calendar, Wikinvest
• IPO Guide from Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati