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 will receive, for no additional consideration, 20 shares of Pershing Square Inc. for every 100 shares purchased in the Pershing Square USA IPO, the company added.

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

Last week, Cerebras filed to go public with plans to launch an IPO as soon as mid-May.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 22, 2026

SpaceX is meeting with aerospace and tech analysts in Boca Chica, Texas, ahead of its trillion-dollar IPO.

From Barron's • 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