Glossary

An Initial Public Offering (IPO) is the process by which a private company goes public, offering its shares for sale to the general public for the first time.

This allows the company to raise capital from a larger pool of investors and provides existing shareholders with an opportunity to sell their shares. The IPO process involves underwriting by investment banks, setting an initial share price, and listing the company's shares on a stock exchange. 📊

For example, Facebook went public in 2012 with an IPO that valued the company at $104 billion, making it one of the largest IPOs in history.

Fun fact: The world's oldest known share of a company, issued by the Dutch East India Company (VOC), dates back to 1606. It was essentially the first company to issue shares and conduct an IPO, laying the foundation for modern stock markets. 📜