IPO

American  

abbreviation

1. initial public offering: a company's first stock offering to the public.

---

IPO British  

abbreviation

1. independent publicly owned company

2. stock exchange initial public offering

---

IPO Cultural  

1. Abbreviation for i nitial p ublic o ffering; the first issuance of shares in itself by a public company.

---

Etymology

Origin of IPO

First recorded in 1975–80

Example Sentences

Investors will get those details when the IPO filing is made public, likely in mid-May.

From Barron's • Apr. 23, 2026

Investors in the Pershing Square USA IPO will receive 20 shares of Pershing Square Inc. for every 100 shares purchased.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 23, 2026

The IPO for Pershing Square Inc. is a component of a single offering which includes Pershing Square USA, Ltd.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 23, 2026

SpaceX aims to raise around $75 billion in its IPO and ended 2025 with $24.7 billion in cash on hand, Reuters has reported, citing excerpts of the company’s confidential registration filing.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 21, 2026

The other, he said, are American investment banks and financial services companies, which often need to prepare glossy pamphlets with graphs to illustrate the benefits of an IPO or a proposed merger.

From "The World Is Flat" by Thomas L. Friedman