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

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

Pershing Square Inc. said shares will be issued only to the initial investors in the Pershing Square USA IPO.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 23, 2026

The AI deal precedes SpaceX’s trillion-dollar IPO, following $16 billion in sales and over 60% profit margin last year.

From Barron's • Apr. 22, 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

It is estimated that a person who invested $5,000 in Netflix at its 2002 IPO would have about $30,000 by January 2010, about $200,000 by January 2015, and about $1.4 million by January 2020.

From "The First State of Being" by Erin Entrada Kelly