IPO

American  

abbreviation

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

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IPO British  

abbreviation

1. independent publicly owned company

2. stock exchange initial public offering

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IPO Cultural  

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

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Etymology

Origin of IPO

First recorded in 1975–80

Example Sentences

Twenty-two companies that went public in the first quarter and raised more than $100 million in their offerings finished March roughly unchanged from their IPO price.

From Barron's • Apr. 3, 2026

Find insight on Nvidia’s deal with Marvell Technology, SpaceX’s IPO, nCino and more in the latest Market Talks covering technology, media and telecom.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 3, 2026

A $75 billion raise would dwarf the roughly $30 billion Saudi Aramco raised in a 2019 IPO.

From Barron's • Apr. 3, 2026

“Large-scale production has further strengthened our bargaining power with upstream suppliers, creating a sustained cost advantage,” the company said in its IPO filing.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 3, 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