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

SpaceX is among the most widely held investments across colleges and universities, endowment executives say, likely making the rocket company’s coming IPO one of the great windfalls for American endowments.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 9, 2026

The Partners fund was carrying its SpaceX stock at about $105 a share on March 31, compared with the planned IPO price of $135.

From Barron's • Jun. 8, 2026

The SpaceX IPO is the biggest sale of its type in history but it's just the first of a slew of mega-sales of shares in the companies at the frontier of the AI economy.

From BBC • Jun. 8, 2026

The company is seeking a $1.75 trillion valuation and aims to go public later this week in what is expected to be a record-setting IPO.

From MarketWatch • Jun. 8, 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