Initial Public Offerings: Updated Statistics

Jay R. Ritter
Cordell Eminent Scholar, Eugene F. Brigham Department of Finance, Insurance, and Real Estate
Warrington College of Business, University of Florida
352.846-2837 voice
January 9, 2025

Table 1: Mean First-day Returns and Money Left on the Table, 1980-2024
Table 1a: Also including the % with negative or zero 1st-day returns and post-issue aggregate market value, 1980-2024
Table 2: Mean First-day Returns, Categorized by Sales, for IPOs from 1980-2024
Table 3: First-day Turnover Categorized by Decade and First-Day Return, 1983-2023
Table 3b: First-day Turnover Categorized by NYSE and Nasdaq Listings, 1983-2023
Table 4: Median Age and Fraction of IPOs with VC- and Buyout-backing, 1980-2024
Table 4a: Median Price-to sales Ratios of Tech-stock IPOs, 1980-2024
Table 4b: Profitability and Median Sales of Technology and Life Science IPOs, 1980-2024
Table 4c: The number of VC-, Growth Capital-, and Buyout-backed IPOs, 1980-2024
Table 4d: VC-backed IPOs, restricted to those headquartered in the U.S., 1980-2023
Table 4e: Proceeds and Post-issue market value of tech stock IPOs, 1980-2023
Table 4f: Mean and Median inflation-adjusted Proceeds and Market Cap, 1980-2023
Table 4g: Life Science IPOs (Median age, Mean underpricing, # with sales>0, # with EPS>0), 1980-2024
Table 4h: Technology Company IPO Underpricing, 1980-2024
Table 4i: VC-backed Tech IPOs, 1980-2024
Table 5: Number of U. S. IPOs with an offer price of greater than $5.00 that doubled (offer to close)
in price on the first day of trading, 1997-2024
Table 6: Number of Initial Public Offerings, First-Day Return, and Revisions from the File Price
Range by Cohort Year, 1990-2024
Table 7: Percentage of IPOs Relative to File Price Range, 1980-2024
Table 8: Number of Offerings, Average First-day Returns, and Gross Proceeds of Initial Public
Offerings in 1960-2023, by Year
Table 9: Fraction of IPOs with Negative Earnings, 1980-2024
Table 10: Gross Spreads Continue to Remain at 7% on Moderate-Size Deals, 2001-2023
Table 11: Mean and Median Gross Spreads and Number of Managing Underwriters, 1980-2023
Table 11a: First-day and Long-run Returns on IPOs by Lead-left Underwriter, 2012-2021
Table 12: Number of IPOs Categorized by the LTM Sales Over/Under $100 million (2024 $), 1980-2024
Table 12a: Median Market Cap and Pre-IPO Sales (2024 $), and Median Price-to-sales ratio, 1980-2024
Table 12b: Number of IPOs Categorized by the LTM Sales Over/Under $1 billion (2011 $), 1980-2023
Table 13: IPO Auctions in the U.S., 1999-2023
Table 13a: Direct Listings in the U.S., 2018-2024
Table 13b: Long-run Returns on IPOs using Auctions and Direct Listings
Table 14: The Market Share of Foreign Companies Among U.S. IPOs, with Mean 1st-day Returns including
ADRs, 1980-2024
Table 15: How Many IPOs are There? 1980-2024
Table 15a: IPO Volume including Units, Closed-end Funds, REITs, and SPACs, etc. 1980-2024
Table 15b: SPACs, 1990-2024
Table 15c: Post-merger returns on deSPACs
Table 16: Long-run Returns on IPOs Categorized by the Pre-issue Sales of the Firm, 1980-2022
Table 16a: Long-run Returns on IPOs Categorized by $1 Billion Sales of the Firm, 1980-2022
Table 16b: Long-run Returns on IPOs Categorized by the Profitability of the Firm, 1980-2022
Table 16c: Long-run Returns Measured from the Offer Price on Tech and non-Tech Stock IPOs
Excluding the Internet Bubble, 1980-2022
Table 16d: Long-run Returns Measured from the First Closing Market Price on Tech and non-Tech Stock
IPOs Excluding the Internet Bubble, 1980-2022
Table 16e: Distribution of 3-year and 5-year Buy-and-Hold Returns on IPOs, 1975-2020

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Table 16f: Aftermarket Returns with and without Including the First-day Return, 1980-2022
Table 17: Long-run Returns on IPOs Categorized by VC-backing or Buyout Fund-backing
Table 17a: Long-run Returns on IPOs Categorized by VC-, Growth Capital-, or Buyout Fund-backing
Table 18: Long-run Returns on IPOs Categorized by VC-backing, by Subperiod
Table 18a: Long-run Returns on IPOs Categorized by VC-backing and Real Sales
Table 18b: Long-run Returns on VC-backed and other IPOs Segmented by Industry, 1980-2022
Table 18c: Long-run Returns on VC-backed and other IPOs Segmented by Industry, 1999-2022
Table 19: Table I of Ritter and Welch 2002 Journal of Finance article: Number of IPOs, First-day
Returns, and Long Run Performance, 1980 to 2021 (returns through Dec. 29, 2023)
Table 19a: Long-run Returns on IPOs Categorized by Sales, by Subperiod
Table 20: Returns by Event Year for the First Five Years after the IPO for IPOs from 1980-2022
Table 21: Mean and Median Public Float, 1980-2024
Table 22: Non-distress Delistings within Three Years of the IPO
Table 23: Dual Class IPOs, by Tech and Non-tech,1980-2024
Table 24: Long-run Returns for Dual Class and Single Class IPOs, 1980-2022

Figure 1: First-day Turnover Categorized by Decade and First-Day Return, 1983-2023

Figure 2: Fraction of IPOs with Negative EPS and Fraction of Tech Stocks, 1980-2024
Figure 3: Mean and Median Public Float, 1980-2023
Figure 4: Average First-day Return and Aggregate Amount of Money Left on the Table, 1990-2023
Figure 5: Number of IPOs and Average First-day Return, 1980-2024
Figure 6: Number and Percentage of U.S. IPOs from Chinese Companies, 1990-2023

72 operating companies went public in the U.S. in 2024, excluding ADRs, natural resource limited partnerships and trusts,
closed-end funds, REITs, SPACs, banks and S&Ls, unit offers, penny stocks (offer price of less than $5 per share), and
stocks not listed on Nasdaq or the NYSE (including NYSE MKT LLC, the former American Stock Exchange). Of these
72 operating companies, 56 were from the U.S. A higher IPO volume figure has been reported in many sources (at least
221 counting all offerings), but the higher numbers typically include not only operating companies (mostly domestic), but
also ADRs (10 offerings), some companies that were already traded in other countries and are thus actually follow-on
offerings, unit offerings (3 offerings), IPOs that do not trade on the NYSE (including NYSE MKT) or Nasdaq (0
offerings), IPOs with an offer price below $5.00 (75 offerings, not including one that was also a unit offer), and small best
efforts deals (1 offering, which was a bank), banks and S&Ls (1 offering, most of which are typically mutual conversions
with depositors buying the stock), oil & gas partnerships or unit trusts (0 offering), REITs (3 offerings), 57 special
purpose acquisition companies (SPACs), and 0 closed-end funds (not including interval funds listed at cefa.com). There
was also 1 direct listing. There are also several bulletin board-traded issues or foreign stocks that I (and Dealogic) classify
as follow-ons, and thus don’t count, but which LSEG classifies as IPOs. Of the 10 ADRs, 2 were penny stocks.
Note: Many of these tables have been updated to include 2024 numbers with the assistance of Guilherme Junqueira. Some
of the tables may have slightly different counts for the number of IPOs in some years. These inconsistencies are because I
periodically add or delete a company that had been misclassified or find some missing data. I do not immediately update
every table. I rely on data from the LSEG SDC new issues database (previously known as Refinitiv and Thomson
Reuters) and Dealogic, but also use information from IPOScoop.com, Nasdaq, Renaissance Capital, the prospectuses, and
other sources. For IPOs from June 1996 and later, the prospectuses (S.E.C. form 424B) are available on EDGAR. For
IPOs from 1975-1996 (the pre-EDGAR days), I have most of the original paper prospectuses courtesy of Graeme Howard
and Todd Huxster. For foreign IPOs from 1996-2000, the S.E.C. did not require electronic filing, so they are not available
on EDGAR, but I have the paper copies for many of them.
In almost all of my tables, I use a more conservative definition of what is an IPO than most other data providers, but am
consistent over time. Partly, the definition that is appropriate depends upon what one is focusing on. From an
underwriter’s point of view, anything that generates fees is relevant. I exclude some of these categories (such as LPs)
partly because it is difficult to determine the founding date of the underlying assets, and I do not like to have a different
number of firms in different tables. Another motivation is that I am focusing on operating companies that potentially
create jobs. For 2016, I have included BATS Global Markets, which went public in April, but was listed on BATS before
being acquired by CBOE Holdings in 2017.

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 Table 1: Mean First-day Returns and Money Left on the Table, 1980-2024 (updated December 20, 2024)
The sample is IPOs with an offer price of at least $5.00, excluding ADRs, unit offers, closed-end funds, REITs,
natural resource limited partnerships, small best efforts offers, banks and S&Ls, and stocks not listed on CRSP
(CRSP includes Amex, NYSE, and NASDAQ stocks). Proceeds exclude overallotment options. The amount of
money left on the table is defined as the closing market price on the first day of trading minus the offer price,
multiplied by the shares offered.
Mean First-day Return Median Aggregate
Number Equal- Proceeds- First-day Amount Left Aggregate
Year of IPOs weighted weighted Return on the Table Proceeds
1980 71 14.3% 20.0% 6.9% $0.18 billion $0.91 billion
1981 192 5.9% 5.7% 0.3% $0.13 billion $2.31 billion
1982 77 11.0% 13.3% 3.7% $0.13 billion $1.00 billion
1983 451 9.9% 9.4% 2.5% $0.84 billion $8.89 billion
1984 171 3.7% 2.5% 0.0% $0.05 billion $2.02 billion
1985 186 6.4% 5.6% 2.8% $0.23 billion $4.09 billion
1986 393 6.1% 5.1% 1.1% $0.68 billion $13.40 billion
1987 285 5.6% 5.7% 1.3% $0.66 billion $11.68 billion
1988 105 5.5% 3.4% 2.3% $0.13 billion $3.88 billion
1989 116 8.0% 4.7% 4.0% $0.27 billion $5.81 billion
1990 110 10.8% 8.1% 5.6% $0.34 billion $4.24 billion
1991 286 11.9% 9.7% 7.5% $1.50 billion $15.39 billion
1992 412 10.3% 8.0% 4.4% $1.82 billion $22.69 billion
1993 510 12.7% 11.2% 6.3% $3.52 billion $31.44 billion
1994 402 9.6% 8.3% 4.2% $1.43 billion $17.18 billion
1995 462 21.4% 17.5% 13.2% $4.90 billion $27.93 billion
1996 677 17.2% 16.1% 10.0% $6.76 billion $42.05 billion
1997 474 14.0% 14.4% 9.4% $4.56 billion $31.76 billion
1998 283 21.9% 15.6% 8.9% $5.25 billion $33.66 billion
1999 476 71.2% 57.4% 37.5% $37.11 billion $64.67 billion
2000 380 56.3% 45.8% 27.9% $29.68 billion $64.80 billion
2001 80 14.0% 8.4% 10.2% $2.97 billion $35.29 billion
2002 66 9.1% 5.1% 8.2% $1.13 billion $22.03 billion
2003 63 11.7% 10.4% 8.7% $1.00 billion $9.54 billion
2004 173 12.3% 12.4% 7.1% $3.86 billion $31.19 billion
2005 159 10.3% 9.3% 5.8% $2.64 billion $28.23 billion
2006 157 12.1% 13.0% 5.6% $3.95 billion $30.48 billion
2007 159 14.0% 13.9% 6.8% $4.95 billion $35.66 billion
2008 21 5.7% 24.7% -1.7% $5.63 billion $22.76 billion
2009 41 9.8% 11.1% 5.7% $1.46 billion $13.17 billion
2010 91 9.4% 6.2% 3.1% $1.84 billion $29.82 billion
2011 81 13.9% 13.0% 8.5% $3.51 billion $26.97 billion
2012 93 17.7% 8.9% 11.1% $2.75 billion $31.11 billion
2013 158 20.9% 19.0% 13.0% $7.89 billion $41.56 billion
2014 206 15.5% 12.8% 5.8% $5.40 billion $42.20 billion
2015 118 19.2% 18.9% 10.3% $4.16 billion $22.00 billion
2016 75 14.5% 14.2% 5.0% $1.77 billion $12.52 billion
2017 106 12.9% 16.0% 9.0% $3.68 billion $22.98 billion
2018 134 18.6% 19.1% 11.6% $6.39 billion $33.47 billion
2019 113 23.5% 17.6% 17.9% $6.95 billion $39.28 billion
2020 165 41.6% 47.9% 26.2% $29.66 billion $61.86 billion
2021 311 32.1% 24.0% 17.0% $28.65 billion $119.36 billion
2022 38 48.9% 14.2% 9.3% $0.99 billion $6.99 billion
2023 54 11.9% 16.1% -0.5% $1.92 billion $11.92 billion
2024 72 15.3% 18.1% 7.2% $3.72 billion $20.49 billion
1980-2024 9,253 18.9% 20.4% 7.0% $237.03 billion $1,161 billion

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 Table 1a (updated December 30, 2024)
Mean First-day Returns and Money Left on the Table, 1980-2024
The market value includes the market value of all share classes using the post-issue no. of shares.

Mean Percentage with Market value

Number First-day 1st-day return of Aggregate at 1st closing
Year of IPOs return <0% =0% Proceeds market price
1980 71 14.3% 31.0% 9.9% $0.91 billion $5.88 billion
1981 192 5.9% 20.8% 29.2% $2.31 billion $10.71 billion
1982 77 11.0% 16.9% 20.8% $1.00 billion $5.11 billion
1983 451 9.9% 18.2% 23.1% $8.89 billion $41.35 billion
1984 171 3.7% 25.7% 32.7% $2.02 billion $8.76 billion
1985 186 6.4% 18.3% 14.5% $4.09 billion $15.18 billion
1986 393 6.1% 28.2% 19.6% $13.40 billion $46.77 billion
1987 285 5.6% 19.3% 26.0% $11.68 billion $45.59 billion
1988 105 5.5% 18.1% 20.0% $3.88 billion $21.65 billion
1989 116 8.0% 12.1% 16.4% $5.81 billion $22.37 billion
1990 110 10.8% 13.6% 19.1% $4.24 billion $17.79 billion
1991 286 11.9% 9.4% 17.1% $15.35 billion $54.06 billion
1992 412 10.3% 13.8% 19.7% $22.69 billion $74.35 billion
1993 510 12.7% 9.4% 15.5% $31.44 billion $126 billion
1994 402 9.6% 7.5% 21.1% $17.18 billion $64 billion
1995 462 21.4% 6.9% 10.0% $27.93 billion $127 billion
1996 677 17.2% 8.7% 12.7% $42.05 billion $215 billion
1997 474 14.0% 7.2% 12.4% $31.76 billion $141 billion
1998 283 21.9% 12.0% 14.8% $33.66 billion $164 billion
1999 476 71.2% 11.8% 5.9% $64.67 billion $652 billion
2000 380 56.3% 11.8% 6.1% $64.80 billion $642 billion
2001 80 14.2% 12.5% 5.0% $35.29 billion $177 billion
2002 66 9.1% 15.2% 6.1% $22.03 billion $84 billion
2003 63 11.7% 17.5% 7.9% $9.54 billion $40 billion
2004 173 12.3% 19.1% 7.5% $31.19 billion $148 billion
2005 159 10.3% 22.6% 10.1% $28.23 billion $105 billion
2006 157 12.1% 17.8% 7.0% $30.48 billion $135 billion
2007 159 14.0% 25.2% 4.4% $35.66 billion $212 billion
2008 21 5.7% 61.9% 4.8% $22.76 billion $63 billion
2009 41 9.8% 19.5% 9.8% $13.17 billion $59 billion
2010 91 9.4% 23.1% 13.2% $29.82 billion $116 billion
2011 81 13.3% 22.2% 4.9% $26.97 billion $178 billion
2012 93 17.7% 18.3% 2.2% $31.11 billion $181 billion
2013 158 20.9% 22.8% 3.8% $41.56 billion $270 billion
2014 206 15.5% 27.7% 5.8% $42.20 billion $238 billion
2015 118 19.2% 24.6% 5.9% $22.00 billion $150 billion
2016 75 14.5% 22.7% 12.0% $12.52 billion $79 billion
2017 106 12.9% 25.5% 3.8% $22.98 billion $162 billion
2018 134 18.6% 26.1% 4.5% $33.47 billion $225 billion
2019 113 23.5% 27.4% 2.7% $39.28 billion $333 billion
2020 165 41.6% 19.4% 2.4% $61.86 billion $687 billion
2021 311 32.1% 24.4% 4.2% $119.36 billion $1,205 billion
2022 38 48.9% 39.5% 2.6% $6.99 billion $73 billion
2023 54 11.9% 53.7% 3.7% $11.92 billion $115 billion
2024 72 15.3% 34.7% 4.2% $20.49 billion $148 billion
1980-2024 9,253 18.9% 16.5% 13.1% $1,161 billion $7,684 billion

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1980-1989 2,047 7.2% 21.2% 22.3% $53.98 billion $223 billion
1990-1998 3,616 14.8% 9.3% 15.2% $226.40 billion $985 billion
1999-2000 856 64.6% 11.8% 6.0% $129.47 billion $1,294 billion
2001-2024 2,734 18.8% 23.9% 5.6% $750.87 billion $5,182 billion

1980-2024 9,253 18.9% 16.5% 13.1% $1,161 billion $7,684 billion

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 Table 2 (updated December 20, 2024)

Mean First-day Returns, Categorized by Sales, for IPOs from 1980-2024

Sales, measured in millions, are for the last twelve months prior to going public. All sales have been converted
into dollars of January 2024 purchasing power, using the Consumers Price Index. There are 9,253 IPOs, after
excluding IPOs with an offer price of less than $5.00 per share, units, REITs, SPACs, ADRs, closed-end funds,
banks and S&Ls, small best efforts offers, firms not listed on CRSP within six months of the offering, and natural
resource limited partnerships. Sales are from the LSEG’s new issues database and its predecessors, EDGAR, and
the Graeme Howard-Todd Huxster collection of pre-EDGAR prospectuses. The average first-day return is 18.8%.

1980-1989 1990-1998 1999-2000 2001-2024

Return N Return N Return N Return N
0≤sales<$10m 10.7% 309 16.8% 559 65.7% 233 20.6% 662
$10m≤sales<$50m 9.0% 570 20.3% 886 75.4% 312 22.4% 282
$50m≤sales<$100m 6.8% 381 15.0% 624 81.9% 109 19.6% 282
$100m≤sales<$500m 5.3% 587 11.9% 1,059 46.7% 138 21.1% 788
$500m≤sales 3.1% 200 8.8% 488 17.2% 64 12.9% 720

All 7.2% 2,047 14.8% 3,616 64.6% 856 18.8% 2,734

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 Table 3 (updated April 7, 2024)
IPO Turnover Categorized by Decade and First-Day Return, 1983-2023
IPOs with an offer price below $5.00 per share, unit offers, closed-end funds, REITs, bank and S&L IPOs,
SPACs, natural resource limited partnerships, all foreign companies, and those with missing volume
numbers on CRSP (3 IPOs) are excluded. Turnover is defined as the maximum of the first three days’ CRSP
trading volume divided by the number of shares issued (not including the overallotment option). The highest
of these first three days is almost always the first day. For Nasdaq-listed IPOs, the trading volume is divided
by 2 for January1983-January 2001, by 1.8 for February 2001-December 2001, and by 1.6 for 2002-2003
to allow more meaningful comparisons with NYSE and Amex (now NYSE MKT)-listed IPOs. As explained
in Appendix B of Gao and Ritter’s 2010 Journal of Financial Economics article “The Marketing of
Seasoned Equity Offerings,” in 2001, Nasdaq changed its trade-reporting rules, and in 2002, institutions
changed the way they reported Nasdaq trades. IPOs before 1983 are not included because CRSP has volume
for very few of these stocks. For approximately 30 IPOs, the observation is deleted because the (adjusted)
turnover is less than 1%.
For Republic Airways Holding (20040526), the CRSP volume of 131,952 is replaced with Bigcharts volume of 1,203,600; for Nucryst
Pharmaceuticals (20051222), the CRSP volume of 49,056 is replaced with Bigcharts volume of 714,500; for Stevanto Group (20210716) the CRSP
volume of 49 is replaced with e BigCharts volume of 12,538,610. For BATS Global Markets (20160415), which is listed on BATS, Yahoo Finance
is the source of volume and long-run returns, and I have created a CRSP PERM of 12345 for it. For Grove (20210623) and Hempacco (20220830),
both Nasdaq Capital Markets issues, the first-day volume has been used instead of the 2nd or 3rd day volume, for which turnover exceeded 1,000%.

Panel A: Percentage of U.S. Operating Company IPOs with Turnover Greater Than 100%
Number Percentage with Percentage of
Time Period of IPOs Turnover>100% IPOs on Nasdaq
1983-1989 1,659 0.1% 87.0%
1990-1998 3,409 1.5% 83.5%
1999-2000 786 21.9% 91.5%
2001-2023 2,338 15.3% 67.6%

Total 8,192 7.1% 80.4%

Panel B: Average Adjusted Turnover Categorized by First-Day Returns

Number Average First- Average
Return Categories of IPOs Day Returns Turnover

Return ≤ % 2,312 -3.6% 34.0%

0% < Return < 10% 2,192 4.4% 33.8%
10% < Return < 60% 3,058 25.6% 55.3%
Return > 60% 630 125.0% 97.3%

Panel C: Average Adjusted Turnover Categorized by First-Day Returns & Decade

Return Categories 1983-1989 1990-1998 1999-2000 2001-2023

Return < 0% 15.0% 25.7% 53.0% 61.1%

0% < Return < 10% 18.8% 28.9% 54.2% 55.4%
10% < Return < 60% 21.5% 45.1% 70.7% 79.0%
Return > 60% 34.2% 77.2% 102.0% 113.2%

Total 18.1% 36.8% 76.6% 71.6%

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 Table 3b (updated April 8, 2024)

Mean First-day Turnover for NYSE and Nasdaq IPOs, 1983-2023

The sample is composed of the IPOs of U.S.-based companies with an offer price of at least $5.00
and listed on the NYSE (excluding NYSE American and NYSE MKT issues after the merger in
2008) or Nasdaq (excluding Nasdaq small cap issues before October 2005 and, after Sept. 2005,
Nasdaq capital market issues), excluding ADRs, unit offers, SPACs, closed-end funds, REITs,
partnerships, banks and S&Ls, and stocks not listed on CRSP (CRSP includes Amex, NYSE, and
NASDAQ stocks). Turnover is volume divided by shares issued. Volume is the maximum of the
first three days, which is almost always the first day. For 2004-2023, first-day volume is used
unless the second day volume is more than five times the first-day volume. Shares issued excludes
over allotment options, but includes the global offering size. To adjust for institutional features of
the way that Nasdaq and NYSE-Amex volume are computed, we use the procedure discussed in
Appendix B of Xiaohui Gao and Jay Ritter’s 2010 Journal of Financial Economics article “The
Marketing of Seasoned Equity Offerings.” Prior to February 1, 2001, we divide Nasdaq volume
by 2.0. This accounts for the practice of counting as trades both trades with market makers and
trades among market makers. On February 1, 2001, a “riskless principal” rule went into effect, that
resulted in a reduction of approximately 10% in reported volume. Thus, for February 1, 2001 to
December 31, 2001, we divide Nasdaq volume by 1.8. During 2002, securities firms began to
charge institutional investors commissions on Nasdaq trades, rather than the prior practice of
merely marking up or down the net price, resulting in a further reduction in reported volume of
approximately 10%. Thus, for 2002 and 2003, we divide Nasdaq volume by 1.6. For 2004 and
later years, in which much of the volume of Nasdaq (and NYSE) stocks has been occurring on
crossing networks and other venues, we use a divisor of 1.0, reflecting the fact that there are no
longer important differences in the reporting of Nasdaq and NYSE volume. Approximately 30
IPOs with adjusted first-day turnover of less than 1% of the issue size are excluded.

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 Number of IPOs Unadjusted With Nasdaq Adjustment
Year Total NYSE Nasdaq Total NYSE Nasdaq Nasdaq Total
1983 429 11 418 23.4% 17.6% 24.5% 12.2% 12.1%
1984 156 8 148 22.1% 10.9% 23.2% 11.6% 11.5%
1985 166 8 158 31.9% 18.7% 32.7% 16.4% 16.4%
1986 355 28 327 37.7% 24.9% 38.6% 19.3% 20.0%
1987 243 26 217 41.5% 23.1% 43.0% 21.5% 22.3%
1988 75 14 61 44.8% 22.3% 48.0% 24.0% 24.8%
1989 96 18 78 53.8% 24.2% 58.1% 29.1% 29.6%
1990 90 15 75 63.8% 22.0% 68.9% 34.5% 34.3%
1991 257 43 214 67.9% 37.1% 70.4% 35.2% 37.5%
1992 352 67 285 61.0% 37.5% 66.5% 32.4% 34.0%
1993 439 65 374 67.6% 42.7% 70.6% 34.8% 37.5%
1994 334 47 287 55.7% 32.8% 59.4% 28.9% 30.2%
1995 382 47 335 77.5% 49.7% 80.2% 40.1% 41.9%
1996 575 76 499 74.3% 60.1% 75.9% 37.9% 41.1%
1997 374 69 305 65.4% 51.6% 68.5% 33.5% 37.6%
1998 223 50 173 92.7% 55.6% 103.5% 51.0% 52.6%
1999 435 39 396 162.1% 65.5% 170.8% 84.5% 84.4%
2000 323 22 301 136.5% 55.9% 142.3% 70.7% 70.3%
2001 72 25 47 90.4% 50.6% 107.1% 56.8% 58.6%
2002 60 25 35 73.1% 61.0% 81.0% 49.0% 55.4%
2003 57 15 42 77.0% 59.1% 83.3% 52.1% 53.9%
2004 157 40 117 60.6% 57.3% 61.7% 61.7% 60.6%
2005 131 44 87 60.4% 58.0% 61.6% 61.6% 60.4%
2006 133 37 96 62.5% 77.6% 56.6% 56.6% 62.5%
2007 134 37 97 58.1% 55.9% 58.9% 58.9% 58.1%
2008 18 7 11 54.9% 68.9% 46.0% 46.0% 54.9%
2009 38 20 18 70.1% 63.2% 77.9% 77.9% 70.1%
2010 79 40 39 55.0% 58.4% 51.4% 51.4% 55.0%
2011 69 31 38 74.6% 83.1% 67.7% 67.7% 74.6%
2012 83 42 41 79.0% 86.4% 71.4% 71.4% 79.0%
2013 133 60 73 74.5% 87.1% 64.2% 64.2% 74.5%
2014 163 67 96 71.8% 75.9% 68.9% 68.9% 71.8%
2015 98 33 65 78.1% 97.9% 68.1% 68.1% 78.1%
2016 62 19 43 66.5% 78.0% 61.4% 61.4% 66.5%
2017 86 34 52 56.5% 65.5% 50.6% 50.6% 56.5%
2018 111 32 79 50.3% 60.2% 46.6% 46.6% 50.6%
2019 97 23 74 52.4% 75.6% 46.0% 46.0% 53.0%
2020 134 22 112 64.4% 52.1% 66.8% 66.8% 64.4%
2021 235 63 172 45.1% 47.4% 44.2% 44.2% 45.1%
2022 14 2 12 28.1% 50.4% 24.4% 24.4% 28.1%
2023 23 8 15 46.5% 55.6% 41.7% 41.7% 46.5%

1983-2000 5,304 653 4,651 69.2% 40.1% 73.3% 36.8% 37.2%

2001-2003 189 65 124 78.4% 57.1% 89.4% 53.0% 54.4%
2004-2023 1,998 661 1,337 60.5% 67.7% 56.8% 56.8% 60.5%
Total 7,491 1,379 6,112 64.1% 53.1% 64.7% 46.6% 49.2%

9
 Table 4 (updated December 30, 2024)

Median Age and Fraction of IPOs with VC and Buyout Backing, 1980-2024

There are 9,253 IPOs after excluding those with an offer price below $5.00 per share, unit offers,
ADRs, closed-end funds, oil & gas limited partnerships, acquisition companies, REITs, bank and
S&L IPOs, and firms not listed on CRSP. Missing numbers are supplemented by direct inspection
of prospectuses on EDGAR, information from Dealogic for IPOs after 1991, Howard and Co.’s
Going Public: The IPO Reporter from 1980-1985, the Graeme Howard-Todd Huxster collection
of IPO prospectuses for 1975-2006, and the Stanford GSB microfiche collection of registration
statements form the 1980s. Tech stocks are defined as internet-related stocks plus other technology
stocks, not including biotech. Loughran and Ritter (2004) list the SIC codes in their appendix 3
and sources of founding dates in appendix 1. Age is defined as the year of the IPO minus the year
of founding. For buyout-backed IPOs, the founding date of the predecessor company is used. For
rollups, the founding date of the oldest acquired company is used in most cases. Private equity
(PE) or buyout-backed IPOs were restricted to “reverse LBOs” in the 1980s and 1990s. Jerry Cao
has assisted with providing information on which IPOs are buyout-backed.

The financial backers of some companies are easy to classify, such as when Sequoia Capital and
Kleiner Perkins invested in Google, or when KKR invested in Dollar General. But other situations
involve growth capital investing, as when Warburg Pincus finances a company that rolls up some
doctors’ offices. With just two categories (VC and buyout), there is some arbitrariness in the
categorization of IPOs backed by growth capital investors. 467 growth capital-backed IPOs are
classified as VC-backed.

The last column gives the percentage of tech stocks that have VC backing.

The definition of technology stocks has been changed from that in Loughran and Ritter (2004
Financial Management), with SIC=3559, 3576, and 7389 added to tech. Some 7389 (business
services) companies have had their SIC codes changed into non-tech categories, such as consulting
and two new SIC codes: 5614 for telemarketing firms and 7388 for non-tech business services
such as Sotheby’s Auctions.

(table on the next page)

10
 Number Median VC-backed Buyout-backed Technology IPOs
Year of IPOs Age No. % No. % No. % VC-backed
1980 71 6 23 32% 1 1% 22 64%
1981 192 8 53 28% 1 1% 72 40%
1982 77 5 21 27% 2 3% 42 36%
1983 451 7 116 26% 17 4% 173 39%
1984 171 8 44 26% 5 3% 50 52%
1985 186 9 39 21% 18 10% 37 43%
1986 393 8 79 20% 42 11% 77 40%
1987 285 8 66 23% 41 14% 59 66%
1988 105 8 32 30% 9 9% 28 61%
1989 116 8 40 34% 10 9% 35 66%
1990 110 9 42 38% 13 12% 32 75%
1991 286 10 115 40% 73 26% 71 63%
1992 412 10 138 33% 98 24% 115 58%
1993 510 9 172 34% 79 15% 127 69%
1994 402 9 129 32% 22 5% 115 56%
1995 462 8 190 41% 30 6% 205 56%
1996 677 8 266 39% 34 5% 276 56%
1997 474 10 134 28% 38 8% 174 42%
1998 283 9 80 28% 30 11% 113 49%
1999 476 5 280 59% 30 6% 370 68%
2000 380 6 245 64% 32 8% 261 70%
2001 80 12 32 40% 21 26% 24 70%
2002 66 15 23 35% 20 30% 20 65%
2003 63 11 25 40% 21 33% 18 67%
2004 173 8 79 46% 43 25% 61 66%
2005 159 13 45 28% 68 43% 45 49%
2006 157 13 56 36% 66 42% 48 56%
2007 159 9 79 50% 30 19% 76 76%
2008 21 14 9 43% 3 14% 6 67%
2009 41 15 12 29% 19 46% 14 43%
2010 91 11 40 44% 28 31% 33 73%
2011 81 11 46 57% 18 22% 36 83%
2012 93 12 49 53% 28 30% 40 87%
2013 158 12 81 52% 37 23% 45 78%
2014 206 11 132 64% 38 18% 53 75%
2015 118 10 78 65% 20 17% 38 76%
2016 75 10 49 65% 13 17% 21 71%
2017 106 12 64 60% 19 18% 30 80%
2018 134 10 91 68% 15 11% 39 77%
2019 113 10 77 69% 11 10% 37 70%
2020 165 9 113 68% 22 13% 46 73%
2021 311 11 175 56% 67 22% 121 64%
2022 38 8 14 37% 0 0% 6 17%
2023 54 10 23 43% 5 9% 9 44%
2024 72 14 35 49% 14 19% 13 54%

1980-2024 9,253 9 3,731 40% 1,251 14% 3,333 60%

11
1980-1989 2,047 8 513 25% 146 7% 595 47%
1990-1998 3,616 9 1,266 35% 417 12% 1,228 56%
1999-2000 856 5 525 61% 62 7% 631 68%
2001-2024 2,734 11 1,426 52% 627 23% 879 69%

1980-2024 9,253 9 3,728 40% 1,252 14% 3,333 60%

12
 Table 4a (updated December 30, 2024)

Technology Company IPOs, 1980-2024 including Direct Listings

There are 3,333 IPOs and 9 direct listings that are tech stocks, for a total of 3,342 listings, after
excluding those with an offer price below $5.00 per share, unit offers, ADRs, closed-end funds,
natural resource limited partnerships (and most other LPs, but not buyout firms such as Carlyle
Group), acquisition companies, REITs, bank and S&L IPOs, and firms not listed on CRSP.
Missing and questionable numbers from the SDC new issues database are supplemented by direct
inspection of prospectuses on EDGAR, information from Dealogic for IPOs after 1991, Howard
and Co.’s Going Public: The IPO Reporter from 1980-1985, and the Graeme Howard-Todd
Huxster collection of IPO prospectuses for 1975-2006. Tech stocks are defined as internet-related
stocks plus other technology stocks including telecom, but not including biotech. Loughran and
Ritter (2004) list the SIC codes in their appendix 3 and sources of founding dates in appendix 1.
The definition of technology stocks has been changed from that in Loughran and Ritter (2004
Financial Management), with SIC=3559, 3576, 3844, and 7389 added to tech. Some 7389
(business services) companies have had their SIC codes changed into non-tech categories, such as
consulting and two new SIC codes that I have made up: 5614 for telemarketing firms and 7388 for
non-tech business services such as Sotheby’s Auctions. I have also added the S.E.C.’s computer
communications equipment code of 3576 for 21 companies, including Cisco Systems.

For the column with VC-backed IPOs, there are 3,741 IPOs including both technology and non-
technology companies.

Total proceeds are nominal and do not include overallotment shares, and are zero for direct listings.
Price-to-sales ratios are computed using both the offer price (OP) and the first closing market price
(MP) for computing the market capitalization of equity. Market cap is calculated using the post-
issue shares outstanding, with all share classes included in the case of dual-class companies. The
undiluted number of shares is used, which is some cases (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, and Castlight
Health) understates the market cap due to the existence of substantial amounts of in-the-money
employee stock options that are highly likely to be exercised. Sales are the last twelve months
(LTM) revenues as reported in the prospectus. The median sales, in millions, is expressed in both
nominal dollars and in dollars of 2024 purchasing power using the CPI. The median age, in years,
is the number of years since the calendar year of the founding date and the calendar year of the
IPO. The percentage of IPOs that are profitable measures profitability using trailing LTM earnings
(usually using after extraordinary items earnings, and usually using pro forma numbers that are
computed assuming that any recent or concurrent mergers have already occurred, and the
conversion of convertible preferred stock into common stock). In some cases, last fiscal year
earnings are used when LTM earnings are unavailable.

Even concepts like market cap (for the price-to-sales ratios) become ambiguous when you realize
that companies like Facebook have many deep in-the-money options outstanding, so whether
you use the fully diluted number of shares or the undiluted number can affect the calculations
substantially for some companies.

(table on the next page)

13
 Number Median
of Tech Proceeds in $millions Price-to-sales Median sales, $mm Median %
Year IPOs VC-backed Technology OP MP Nominal $2024 age profitable
1980 22 388 378 3.4 3.8 16.2 64.3 6.5 91%
1981 72 648 838 3.5 3.6 12.9 45.8 9 88%
1982 42 490 648 4.2 4.5 10.5 34.5 5 83%
1983 173 2,798 3,271 5.9 6.6 8.6 27.2 6 71%
1984 50 614 551 2.4 2.5 9.8 29.6 6.5 80%
1985 37 667 375 2.3 2.4 13.4 39.2 7 84%
1986 77 1,558 1,217 3.4 3.6 13.0 36.6 6 74%
1987 59 1,315 1,330 3.2 3.2 17.8 49.4 5 86%
1988 28 674 888 3.0 3.4 24.0 64.0 5.5 79%
1989 35 869 748 3.4 4.0 31.5 80.3 6 77%
1990 32 1,085 764 3.6 4.0 28.6 69.1 8.5 94%
1991 71 3,887 2,760 3.2 3.6 34.6 79.3 9 75%
1992 115 4,970 5,875 3.5 3.7 22.4 50.0 8 65%
1993 127 5,929 5,715 3.0 3.6 27.0 58.4 8 74%
1994 115 3,691 3,583 3.7 4.2 21.0 44.3 9 70%
1995 205 7,165 9,786 4.6 5.8 21.4 43.9 8 71%
1996 276 11,681 16,256 6.8 8.2 16.7 33.3 7 47%
1997 174 5,016 7,479 5.2 5.7 21.2 41.0 8 50%
1998 113 4,037 8,118 8.8 11.9 22.1 42.2 7 36%
1999 370 22,298 33,512 26.5 43.0 12.1 22.7 4 14%
2000 261 23,598 42,537 31.7 49.5 12.0 22.1 5 14%
2001 24 2,658 5,833 8.1 13.4 24.6 41.8 9 30%
2002 20 1,956 2,587 2.9 3.1 95.2 165.8 9 40%
2003 18 1,824 2,242 3.5 4.0 86.2 175.9 8.5 39%
2004 61 7,183 9,064 6.4 7.1 55.5 92.4 8 44%
2005 45 3,458 6,993 4.5 4.5 68.0 110.0 9 36%
2006 48 4,860 4,873 5.5 6.3 57.6 89.5 9 50%
2007 76 10,566 12,572 6.5 7.8 71.2 105.2 8 30%
2008 6 863 1,194 4.9 5.7 156.7 228.8 14 67%
2009 14 1,697 4,126 3.0 3.6 174.3 254.5 11 71%
2010 33 4,038 4,347 3.4 3.9 119.5 170.0 11 64%
2011 36 8,764 9,412 6.1 6.6 141.3 197.9 10 36%
2012 40 21,096 20,887 4.5 5.0 113.4 154.3 9.5 43%
2013 45 11,935 8,662 5.3 6.1 105.8 141.7 9 27%
2014 53 18,542 9,965 6.1 6.8 90.5 119.3 11 17%
2015 38 9,890 10,087 5.3 6.2 130.8 172.6 11 26%
2016 21 6,181 2,510 4.2 4.3 109.5 142.6 10 29%
2017 30 11,269 7,844 5.0 6.3 188.4 239.3 13 17%
2018 40 16,706 12,246 7.6 11.3 182.1 226.5 12 15%
2019 38 27,534 22,881 8.1 10.6 205.8 252.2 11 29%
2020 48 41,423 29,557 13.6 21.8 211.2 241.2 12 20%
2021 126 72,300 59,375 15.2 17.8 207.7 234.3 12 22%
2022 6 1,681 1,163 5.6 6.0 92.7 101.7 15 33%
2023 9 4,351 1,925 13.6 13.6 6.5 6.8 6 33%
2024 13 7,360 5,043 9.0 10.4 115.8 115.8 17 23%
1980-2024 3,342 402,126 402,017 6.2 7.4 24.4 51.8 8 47%

14
 Table 4b (updated December 23, 2024)

Technology and Life Science Company IPOs, 1980-2024

There are 3,333 tech and 1,019 life science IPOs from 1980-2024, after excluding those with an
offer price below $5.00 per share, unit offers, ADRs, closed-end funds, partnerships, acquisition
companies, REITs, bank and S&L IPOs, and firms not listed on CRSP. Life science includes
biotech and pharmaceutical firms. Life science is defined as SIC=2830, 2834, 2835, 2836, and
8731. In prior years, I had included 2833 (medical chemicals and botanical products) as well, but
I am not including this industry in life science since in recent years it has been mainly cannabis-
related companies.

Tech stocks are defined as internet-related stocks plus other technology stocks including telecom,
but not including biotech. Loughran and Ritter (2004) list the SIC codes in their appendix 3 and
sources of founding dates in appendix 1. The definition of technology stocks has been changed
from that in Loughran and Ritter (2004 Financial Management), with SIC=3559, 3576, and 7389
added to tech. Some 7389 (business services) companies have had their SIC codes changed into
non-tech categories, such as consulting and two new SIC codes that I created: 5614 for
telemarketing firms and 7388 for non-tech business services such as Sotheby’s Auctions. I have
also added the S.E.C.’s computer communications equipment code of 3576 for 21 companies,
including Cisco Systems.

Missing and questionable numbers from the SDC new issues database are supplemented by direct
inspection of prospectuses on EDGAR, information from Dealogic for IPOs after 1991, Howard
and Co.’s Going Public: The IPO Reporter from 1980-1985, and the Graeme Howard-Todd
Huxster collection of IPO prospectuses for 1975-2006.

Sales are the last twelve months (LTM) revenues as reported in the prospectus. The median sales,
in millions, are expressed in dollars of 2022 purchasing power using the CPI. Pro forma numbers
are usually used if there have been recent mergers or mergers that coincide with the IPO. The
percentage of IPOs that are profitable measures profitability using trailing LTM earnings (usually
using after extraordinary items earnings, and usually using pro forma numbers that are computed
assuming that any recent or concurrent mergers have already occurred, and the conversion of
convertible preferred stock into common stock). In some cases, last fiscal year earnings are used
when LTM earnings are unavailable.

(table on the next page)

15
 Number of IPOs % Profitable Median sales ($2022, mm)
Year Tech Life Sci Other Tech Life Sci Other Tech Life Sci Other
1980 22 3 46 91% 67% 70% 58.6 20.5 77.3
1981 72 10 110 88% 30% 85% 41.8 4.9 43.3
1982 42 2 33 83% 50% 79% 31.4 4.0 29.9
1983 173 21 257 71% 42% 86% 24.8 7.4 88.8
1984 50 2 119 80% 100% 85% 27.0 136.3 69.5
1985 37 5 144 84% 40% 87% 35.7 12.5 106.3
1986 77 23 293 74% 35% 84% 33.4 10.8 95.2
1987 59 10 216 86% 20% 85% 45.0 7.8 110.9
1988 28 2 75 79% 0% 85% 58.3 9.9 229.7
1989 35 4 77 77% 0% 82% 73.2 2.7 122.2
1990 32 4 74 94% 0% 87% 63.0 4.5 129.0
1991 71 32 183 75% 16% 88% 72.3 7.0 154.8
1992 115 33 264 65% 18% 80% 45.6 2.6 142.0
1993 127 27 356 74% 22% 75% 53.2 3.0 120.2
1994 115 20 267 70% 20% 80% 40.4 3.2 107.1
1995 205 21 236 71% 14% 75% 40.0 5.8 118.8
1996 276 44 357 47% 14% 73% 30.3 4.1 99.4
1997 174 22 278 50% 14% 77% 37.4 9.9 111.7
1998 113 10 160 36% 30% 69% 38.5 13.4 123.8
1999 370 10 96 14% 20% 63% 20.7 10.1 194.1
2000 261 50 69 14% 12% 50% 20.2 6.6 153.2
2001 24 5 51 30% 0% 66% 38.1 0.3 571.2
2002 20 5 41 40% 40% 63% 151.2 228.0 684.8
2003 18 8 37 39% 0% 76% 160.4 0.1 623.8
2004 61 30 82 44% 7% 70% 84.3 5.3 300.6
2005 45 16 98 36% 13% 70% 100.3 18.2 320.0
2006 48 24 85 50% 8% 80% 81.7 4.8 472.6
2007 76 19 64 30% 5% 73% 95.9 1.9 323.0
2008 6 1 14 67% 0% 57% 208.7 0.4 268.7
2009 14 3 24 71% 67% 71% 232.1 50.1 598.8
2010 33 11 47 64% 0% 70% 155.1 0.0 419.0
2011 36 8 37 36% 0% 59% 180.4 4.0 412.6
2012 40 10 43 43% 0% 77% 140.7 0.5 424.6
2013 45 40 73 27% 7% 58% 129.2 11.9 507.1
2014 53 71 82 17% 7% 57% 108.8 0.0 286.2
2015 38 42 38 26% 0% 66% 157.4 0.0 205.8
2016 21 25 29 29% 8% 59% 130.1 1.1 775.6
2017 30 32 44 17% 0% 42% 218.2 0.0 516.2
2018 39 59 36 15% 0% 51% 203.3 0.0 536.2
2019 37 42 27 30% 0% 50% 219.7 0.0 121.5
2020 46 76 43 22% 5% 47% 220.0 0.0 311.5
2021 121 89 101 22% 2% 49% 202.4 0.0 325.4
2022 6 16 16 33% 0% 38% 92.7 0.0 7.2
2023 9 13 32 33% 0% 48% 6.2 0.0 20.4
2024 13 19 40 23% 11% 58% 105.6 0.0 242.1
2001-24 879 664 1,191 32% 4% 62% 134.3 0.0 367.4
1980-24 3,333 1,019 4,901 47% 10% 75% 47.0 1.4 135.4

16
 Table 4c (updated December 30, 2024)

VC-backed, Growth Capital-backed, and Buyout-backed IPOs, 1980-2024

There are 9,253 IPOs after excluding those with an offer price below $5.00 per share, unit offers,
ADRs, closed-end funds, natural resource limited partnerships, special purpose acquisition
companies (SPACs), REITs, bank and S&L IPOs, small best efforts offerings, and firms not listed
on CRSP within six months of the IPO. Missing numbers in the LSEG’s new issues database and
its predecessors are found by direct inspection of prospectuses on EDGAR, information from
Dealogic for IPOs after 1989, Howard and Co.’s Going Public: The IPO Reporter from 1980-
1985, and the Graeme Howard-Todd Huxster collection of IPO prospectuses for 1975-1996. Some
foreign company IPOs from 1997-2001 that did not use ADRs but did not file electronically, and
therefore do not have a prospectus available on EDGAR, were also accessed from the Graeme
Howard-Todd Huxster database. Additional information was collected from microfiches at
Stanford’s GSB library. Tech stocks are defined as internet-related stocks plus other technology
stocks including telecom, but not including biotech. Loughran and Ritter (2004) list the SIC codes
in their appendix 3 and sources of founding dates in appendix 1, and I have slightly updated the
classifications.

Growth capital-backed IPOs are IPOs with a financial sponsor that, unlike a buyout-sponsored
deal, typically owns far less than 90% of the equity prior to the IPO. Furthermore, many growth
capital-backed IPOs have debt in their capital structure. The main criteria for classifying a financial
sponsor as growth capital rather than venture capital is whether the company is investing in
tangible assets (e.g., stores or hospitals) or intangibles (e.g., R&D); this is highly correlated with
the industry of the company: restaurants, retail operations such as clothing store chains, healthcare
operations (doctors’ offices and dental offices), and retirement homes are generally classified as
growth capital-backed. Many growth capital-backed IPOs are involved in rollups of a fragmented
industry, where the financial sponsor has provided capital to make acquisitions to consolidate a
fragmented industry, such as funeral homes. If a company is growing via acquisitions, it would
generally be categorized as growth capital-backed rather than venture-backed. Jerry Cao has
provided some information on which IPOs are buyout-backed. 471 growth capital-backed IPOs
are not classified as VC-backed in this table. See my article “Growth Capital-backed IPOs” in The
Financial Review (November 2015) for further details.

(table on the next page)

17
 Financial sponsor- Growth capital-
Number of backed VC-backed backed Buyout-backed
Year IPOs No. % No. % No. % No. %

1980 71 24 34% 20 28% 3 4% 1 1%

1981 192 54 28% 44 23% 9 5% 1 1%
1982 77 23 30% 19 25% 2 3% 2 3%
1983 451 133 29% 104 23% 12 3% 17 4%
1984 171 49 29% 37 22% 7 4% 5 3%
1985 186 57 31% 28 15% 11 6% 18 10%
1986 393 121 31% 72 18% 7 2% 42 11%
1987 285 107 38% 61 21% 5 2% 41 14%
1988 105 41 39% 25 24% 7 7% 9 9%
1989 116 50 43% 30 26% 10 9% 10 9%
1990 110 55 50% 37 34% 5 5% 13 12%
1991 286 188 66% 97 34% 18 6% 73 26%
1992 412 236 57% 118 29% 20 5% 98 24%
1993 510 251 49% 159 31% 13 3% 79 15%
1994 402 151 38% 111 28% 18 4% 22 5%
1995 462 220 48% 157 34% 33 7% 30 6%
1996 677 300 44% 218 32% 48 7% 34 5%
1997 474 172 36% 100 21% 34 7% 38 8%
1998 283 110 39% 61 22% 19 7% 30 11%
1999 476 310 65% 264 55% 16 3% 30 6%
2000 380 277 73% 242 64% 3 1% 32 8%
2001 80 53 66% 22 28% 10 13% 21 26%
2002 66 43 65% 11 17% 12 18% 20 30%
2003 63 46 73% 21 33% 4 6% 21 33%
2004 173 122 71% 73 42% 6 3% 43 25%
2005 159 113 71% 40 25% 5 3% 68 43%
2006 157 122 78% 53 34% 3 2% 66 42%
2007 159 109 69% 71 45% 8 5% 30 19%
2008 21 12 57% 7 33% 2 10% 3 14%
2009 41 31 76% 12 29% 0 0% 19 46%
2010 91 68 75% 37 42% 3 3% 28 29%
2011 81 64 79% 41 51% 5 6% 18 22%
2012 93 77 83% 46 49% 3 3% 28 30%
2013 158 118 75% 70 44% 11 7% 37 23%
2014 206 170 83% 115 56% 17 8% 38 18%
2015 118 98 83% 70 59% 8 7% 20 17%
2016 75 62 83% 38 51% 11 15% 13 17%
2017 106 83 78% 55 52% 9 8% 19 18%
2018 134 106 79% 80 60% 11 8% 15 11%
2019 113 88 78% 74 66% 3 3% 11 10%
2020 165 135 82% 99 60% 14 8% 22 13%
2021 311 242 78% 156 50% 19 6% 67 22%
2022 38 14 37% 14 37% 0 0% 0 0%
2023 54 28 52% 20 37% 3 6% 5 9%
2024 72 49 68% 31 45% 4 6% 14 19%
1980-1989 2,047 659 32% 440 22% 73 4% 146 7%
1990-1998 3,616 1,683 47% 1,058 29% 208 6% 417 12%
1999-2000 856 587 69% 506 59% 19 2% 62 7%
2001-2024 2,734 2,003 73% 1,256 46% 171 6% 626 23%

1980-2024 9,253 4,932 53% 3,260 35% 471 5% 1,251 13%

18
 Table 4d (updated January 1, 2024)

VC-backed IPOs, U.S.-headquartered Companies Only, 1980-2023

There are 3,539 venture capital-backed IPOs of U.S. headquartered companies, after excluding
those with an offer price below $5.00 per share, unit offers, ADRs, closed-end funds, natural
resource limited partnerships (and most other LPs, but not buyout firms such as Carlyle Group),
acquisition companies, REITs, bank and S&L IPOs, and firms not listed on CRSP. VC-backed
includes growth capital-backed IPOs. Missing and questionable numbers from the SDC new issues
database are supplemented by direct inspection of prospectuses on EDGAR, information from
Dealogic for IPOs after 1991, Howard and Co.’s Going Public: The IPO Reporter from 1980-
1985, and the Graeme Howard-Todd Huxster collection of IPO prospectuses for 1975-1996.

The public float is calculated as the shares issued multiplied by the first closing market price, and
does not include overallotment shares. All numbers use the undiluted number of shares
outstanding. For dual-class companies such as Facebook, all share classes are included, with the
assumption that the price per share is the same for each class.

Even concepts like market cap (for the price-to-sales ratios) become ambiguous when you realize
that companies like Facebook have many deep in-the-money options outstanding, so whether you
use the fully diluted number of shares or the undiluted number can affect the calculations
substantially for some companies.

Example: For 1980, the 23 VC-backed IPOs raised a total of $388 million (not including
overallotment options), the shares of which had a market cap of $500 million using the first closing
market price. The market cap, using all shares outstanding, was $3.374 billion in total. Of this,
Apple Computer issued 4.6 million shares at $22 per share (proceeds of $101.2 million), closing
at $28.75 per share (public float value of $132.25 million), with 55.136 million shares outstanding
($1,585 million market cap).

(table on the next page)

19
 U.S.-headquartered VC-backed IPOs At first market price, $millions
Year Number % Profitable Proceeds, $m Public float Market cap
1980 23 78% 388 500 3,374
1981 53 79% 648 718 3,535
1982 21 57% 490 575 2,640
1983 115 65% 2,740 3,088 14,200
1984 43 77% 563 606 2,840
1985 38 63% 660 682 2,751
1986 79 59% 1,559 1,671 7,081
1987 66 68% 1,315 1,446 5,921
1988 31 81% 658 709 3,039
1989 39 69% 843 941 3,611
1990 41 83% 1,057 1,177 4,926
1991 113 62% 3,724 4,290 15,872
1992 137 55% 4,934 5,561 18,537
1993 169 63% 5,827 6,866 24,931
1994 126 62% 3,528 4,011 14,023
1995 188 65% 7,114 9,298 35,726
1996 259 39% 11,137 13,465 57,203
1997 132 45% 4,900 5,937 26,917
1998 79 24% 4,005 5,050 23,725
1999 278 12% 22,187 46,532 318,588
2000 227 6% 21,855 40,648 289,861
2001 30 27% 2,406 2,895 15,825
2002 23 35% 1,956 2,216 10,563
2003 25 48% 1,824 2,150 8,556
2004 76 28% 7,042 8,306 54,443
2005 41 34% 3,110 3,759 14,986
2006 54 35% 4,436 5,214 22,609
2007 76 22% 10,386 13,238 74,343
2008 9 44% 863 936 4,428
2009 12 58% 1,697 2,057 8,302
2010 37 38% 4,104 4,271 20,184
2011 43 28% 6,601 7,941 62,870
2012 49 33% 21,096 22,959 125,886
2013 75 15% 10,946 14,888 92,898
2014 116 16% 16,107 19,831 98,782
2015 68 13% 8,552 11,147 58,497
2016 45 20% 4,929 6,135 32,605
2017 55 13% 10,017 12,585 76,298
2018 83 10% 13,492 16,856 105,811
2019 71 3% 25,149 28,913 227,544
2020 106 10% 38,773 63,652 483,158
2021 155 10% 60,419 75,744 614,787
2022 13 0% 1,481 1,718 7,223
2023 19 11% 3,568 4,324 33,058
2024
1980-2023 3,539 37% 358,775 485,614 3,133,047

20
 Table 4e (MV not adjusted for inflation) Tech IPOs, 1980-2023
No. of Tech Proceeds, Number Market value, at first market price, $millions
Year IPOs $millions doubling Total Mean Median
1980 22 378 0 $3,054 $139 $64
1981 72 838 0 $4,509 $63 $42
1982 42 648 0 $3,360 $80 $30
1983 173 3,271 2 $17,290 $100 $45
1984 50 551 1 $2,674 $53 $30
1985 37 375 0 $1,595 $43 $29
1986 77 1,217 0 $6,163 $80 $45
1987 59 1,330 0 $7,632 $129 $58
1988 28 888 0 $5,554 $198 $102
1989 35 748 0 $3,660 $105 $65
1990 32 764 0 $3,660 $114 $83
1991 71 2,760 0 $11,912 $168 $123
1992 115 5,875 1 $21,936 $191 $102
1993 127 5,715 1 $30,331 $239 $86
1994 115 3,583 1 $16,653 $145 $80
1995 205 9,786 11 $50,090 $244 $139
1996 276 16,256 5 $98,775 $358 $138
1997 174 7,479 2 $45,962 $264 $113
1998 113 8,118 12 $64,218 $570 $234
1999 370 33,512 114 $448,514 $1,212 $493
2000 261 42,538 69 $518,607 $1,987 $702
2001 24 5,833 0 $27,678 $1,153 $367
2002 20 2,587 0 $12,340 $617 $339
2003 18 2,242 0 $9,340 $519 $422
2004 61 9,064 0 $59,399 $974 $325
2005 45 6,994 0 $26,149 $581 $307
2006 48 4,873 0 $23,820 $496 $352
2007 76 12,572 0 $89,729 $1,181 $560
2008 6 1,194 0 $5,756 $959 $813
2009 14 4,126 0 $16,311 $1,165 $646
2010 33 4,347 0 $24,833 $753 $548
2011 36 9,412 1 $83,415 $2,317 $824
2012 40 20,887 1 $125,817 $3,145 $686
2013 45 8,662 1 $76,923 $1,709 $812
2014 53 9,965 2 $84,160 $1,588 $780
2015 38 10,087 0 $74,811 $1,969 $815
2016 21 2,510 1 $23,056 $1,098 $841
2017 30 7,844 0 $64,715 $2,157 $1,129
2018 39 12,246 1 $103,988 $2,666 $1,959
2019 37 22,881 0 $223,971 $6,053 $2,176
2020 46 29,557 12 $457,789 $9,952 $4,319
2021 121 59,375 6 $745,560 $6,162 $3,045
2022 6 1,163 0 $25,857 $4,310 $468
2023 9 1,926 0 $22,689 $2,521 $138
2024
1980-2023 3,320 396,974 244 $3,774,456 $1,137 $214

21
 Table 4f (adjusted for inflation, 2017 $) IPOs, 1980-2023 (tr is trillions)
No. of Proceeds, $millions Market value, at first close, $millions
Year IPOs Total Mean Median Total Mean Median
1980 71 $2,826 $40 $28 $18,338 $258 $105
1981 192 $6,433 $34 $23 $29,873 $156 $100
1982 77 $2,571 $33 $18 $13,159 $171 $86
1983 451 $22,070 $49 $29 $102,669 $228 $119
1984 171 $4,815 $28 $20 $20,862 $122 $69
1985 186 $9,414 $51 $25 $34,933 $188 $88
1986 393 $29,683 $76 $27 $103,595 $264 $99
1987 285 $25,507 $89 $33 $99,532 $349 $126
1988 105 $8,145 $78 $35 $45,432 $433 $160
1989 116 $11,645 $100 $43 $44,859 $387 $156
1990 110 $8,145 $74 $46 $33,914 $308 $166
1991 286 $27,756 $97 $52 $97,515 $341 $183
1992 412 $39,896 $97 $48 $130,761 $317 $169
1993 510 $53,526 $105 $48 $214,297 $420 $158
1994 402 $28,523 $71 $40 $105,742 $263 $125
1995 462 $45,152 $98 $52 $205,504 $445 $204
1996 677 $66,117 $98 $53 $377,944 $499 $201
1997 474 $48,460 $102 $51 $215,578 $455 $189
1998 283 $50,590 $179 $63 $246,584 $871 $284
1999 476 $95,547 $201 $91 $962,891 $2,023 $702
2000 380 $93,235 $245 $112 $924,452 $2,433 $816
2001 80 $48,945 $612 $162 $245,564 $3,070 $655
2002 66 $30,188 $457 $162 $114,629 $1,737 $714
2003 63 $12,745 $202 $154 $53,828 $854 $499
2004 173 $40,885 $236 $110 $194,092 $1,122 $448
2005 159 $35,949 $226 $147 $133,221 $838 $442
2006 157 $37,330 $238 $128 $165,163 $1,052 $450
2007 159 $41,442 $261 $125 $246,042 $1,547 $581
2008 21 $26,175 $1,246 $166 $72,691 $3,461 $542
2009 41 $15,150 $370 $178 $68,123 $1,662 $792
2010 91 $33,406 $367 $121 $126,816 $1,394 $482
2011 81 $29,732 $367 $167 $175,925 $2,172 $951
2012 93 $33,341 $359 $102 $193,803 $2,085 $641
2013 158 $40,842 $260 $122 $284,858 $1,803 $727
2014 206 $43,782 $213 $97 $246,739 $1,198 $445
2015 118 $22,849 $194 $106 $155,641 $1,319 $556
2016 75 $12,835 $171 $97 $80,840 $1,078 $521
2017 106 $22,979 $215 $120 $161,650 $1,525 $648
2018 134 $32,766 $245 $117 $220.556 $1,575 $613
2019 113 $37,898 $337 $121 $333.424 $2,855 $736
2020 165 $58,245 $353 $188 $646,252 $3,917 $1,038
2021 311 $110,810 $356 $186 $1,118,493 $3,596 $1,325
2022 38 $6,023 $146 $31 $63,212 $1,619 $398
2023 54 $9,762 $181 $16 $94,233 $1,745 $204
2024
80-23 9,181 $1.467 tr $160 $63 $9.197 tr $1,002 $258

22
 Table 4g (updated December 23, 2024)

Life Science Company IPOs, 1980-2024

IR is the initial return (underpricing), measured as the equally weighted average of the first-day
return from the offer price to close. There are 1,019 biotech IPOs from 1980-2024, after excluding
those with an offer price below $5.00 per share, unit offers, ADRs, closed-end funds, partnerships,
special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs), REITs, bank and S&L IPOs, and firms not listed
on CRSP. Missing and questionable numbers from the SDC new issues database are supplemented
by direct inspection of prospectuses on EDGAR, information from Dealogic for IPOs after 1991,
Howard and Co.’s Going Public: The IPO Reporter from 1980-1985, and the Graeme Howard-
Todd Huxster collection of IPO prospectuses for 1975-2006.

Life science includes biotech and pharmaceutical firms, defined as SIC=2830, 2834, 2835, 2836,
and 8731.

Sales are the last twelve months (LTM) revenues as reported in the prospectus. The median sales,
in millions, are expressed in dollars of 2022 purchasing power using the CPI. Pro forma numbers
are usually used if there have been recent mergers or mergers that coincide with the IPO. The
percentage of IPOs that are profitable measures profitability using trailing LTM earnings (usually
using after extraordinary items earnings, and usually using pro forma numbers that are computed
assuming that any recent or concurrent mergers have already occurred, and the conversion of
convertible preferred stock into common stock). In some cases, last fiscal year earnings are used
when LTM earnings are unavailable. EPS is earnings per share. Age is the median age in years,
defined as the calendar year of the IPO minus the calendar year of founding.

Many of the biotech companies with positive sales have research contracts producing revenue,
rather than product sales.

(table on the next page)

23
 Number of IPOs Life Sci Life Science IPOs Life Sci sales ($2022, millions)
Year Total Life Sci IR,% EPS>0 Age # zero % zero Median
1980 71 3 44.3% 67% 4 0 0.0% 20.5
1981 192 10 14.1% 30% 4.5 2 20.0% 4.9
1982 77 2 16.0% 50% 2 0 0.0% 4.0
1983 451 21 6.2% 42% 3 1 4.8% 7.4
1984 171 2 0.0% 100% 16 0 0.0% 136.3
1985 186 5 2.4% 40% 3 1 20.0% 12.5
1986 393 23 7.0% 35% 5 0 0.0% 10.8
1987 285 10 5.1% 20% 4 0 0.0% 7.8
1988 105 2 -1.6% 0% 9 1 50.0% 9.9
1989 116 4 3.8% 0% 6 0 0.0% 2.7
1990 110 4 0.8% 0% 4 2 50.0% 4.5
1991 286 32 12.8% 16% 4 3 9.4% 7.0
1992 412 33 9.9% 18% 5 6 18.2% 2.6
1993 510 27 7.7% 22% 5 3 11.1% 3.0
1994 402 20 3.4% 20% 7.5 3 15.0% 3.2
1995 462 21 6.6% 14% 5 5 23.8% 5.8
1996 677 44 12.2% 14% 4 7 15.9% 4.1
1997 474 22 8.3% 14% 6 3 13.6% 9.9
1998 283 10 6.2% 30% 7 0 0.0% 13.4
1999 476 10 31.8% 20% 5.5 1 10.0% 10.1
2000 380 50 31.9% 12% 6 10 20.0% 6.6
2001 80 5 10.7% 0% 5 2 40.0% 0.3
2002 66 5 -4.9% 40% 9 0 0.0% 228.0
2003 63 8 2.6% 0% 6 4 50.0% 0.1
2004 173 30 7.8% 7% 7 6 20.0% 5.3
2005 159 16 8.0% 13% 6 1 6.3% 18.2
2006 157 24 4.2% 8% 8 4 16.7% 4.8
2007 159 19 2.2% 5% 8 8 42.1% 2.0
2008 21 1 -5.7% 0% 9 0 0.0% 0.4
2009 41 3 1.3% 67% 14 0 0.0% 50.0
2010 91 11 0.9% 0% 6 6 54.5% 0.0
2011 81 8 6.4% 0% 5.5 3 37.5% 4.0
2012 93 10 7.8% 0% 7 5 50.0% 0.5
2013 158 40 19.3% 7% 10 12 30.0% 11.9
2014 206 71 13.8% 7% 10 38 53.5% 0.0
2015 118 42 22.9% 0% 7 26 61.9% 0.0
2016 75 25 7.0% 8% 8 8 32.0% 1.1
2017 106 32 7.0% 0% 6.5 23 71.9% 0.0
2018 134 59 13.8% 0% 5 39 66.1% 0.0
2019 113 42 21.7% 0% 4 33 78.6% 0.0
2020 165 76 37.6% 5% 6 49 64.5% 0.0
2021 311 89 24.4% 2% 5 55 61.8% 0.0
2022 38 16 49.4% 0% 4 13 81.3% 0.0
2023 54 13 5.4% 0% 4 10 76.9% 0.0
2024 72 19 12.1% 5% 5 11 57.9% 0.0
2001-24 2,734 664 17.5% 4% 6 355 53.5% 0.0

1980-2024 9,253 1,019 15.9% 10% 6 403 39.5% 1.4

24
 Table 4h (updated December 20, 2024)
Technology Company IPO Underpricing, 1980-2024
Underpricing is measured as the equally weighted average of the first-day return from the offer
price to close. The screens described in Table 1 apply, including the exclusion of ADRs.
Number of IPOs EW mean 1st-day Return,%
Year Total Tech NonTech Total Tech NonTech
1980 71 22 49 14.3% 21.7% 10.9%
1981 192 72 120 5.9% 7.0% 5.2%
1982 77 42 35 11.0% 13.6% 7.9%
1983 451 173 278 9.9% 13.9% 7.5%
1984 171 50 121 3.7% 5.5% 2.9%
1985 186 37 149 6.4% 6.1% 6.5%
1986 393 77 316 6.1% 7.2% 5.9%
1987 285 59 226 5.6% 7.3% 5.2%
1988 105 28 77 5.5% 5.5% 5.5%
1989 116 35 81 8.0% 11.9% 6.3%
1990 110 32 78 10.8% 14.9% 9.1%
1991 286 71 215 11.9% 17.3% 10.1%
1992 412 115 297 10.3% 14.4% 8.7%
1993 510 127 383 12.7% 17.8% 11.1%
1994 402 115 287 9.6% 14.1% 7.8%
1995 462 205 257 21.4% 30.8% 14.0%
1996 677 276 401 17.2% 20.2% 15.2%
1997 474 174 300 14.0% 16.9% 12.4%
1998 283 113 170 21.9% 39.1% 10.3%
1999 476 370 106 71.2% 86.7% 17.2%
2000 380 261 119 56.3% 69.2% 28.1%
2001 80 24 56 14.0% 22.7% 10.3%
2002 66 20 46 9.1% 8.6% 9.3%
2003 63 18 45 11.7% 17.4% 9.5%
2004 173 61 112 12.3% 16.6% 10.0%
2005 159 45 114 10.3% 10.8% 10.1%
2006 157 48 109 12.1% 15.3% 10.8%
2007 159 76 83 14.0% 18.8% 9.6%
2008 21 6 15 5.7% 2.6% 7.0%
2009 41 14 27 9.8% 16.9% 6.2%
2010 91 33 58 9.4% 15.5% 5.9%
2011 81 36 45 13.9% 20.2% 9.0%
2012 93 40 53 17.7% 23.4% 13.3%
2013 158 45 113 20.9% 26.7% 18.5%
2014 206 53 153 15.5% 25.0% 12.2%
2015 118 38 80 19.2% 18.8% 19.4%
2016 75 21 54 14.5% 32.4% 7.5%
2017 106 30 76 12.9% 21.1% 9.6%
2018 134 39 95 18.6% 32.3% 13.0%
2019 113 37 76 23.5% 28.6% 21.1%
2020 165 46 119 41.6% 62.6% 33.5%
2021 311 121 190 32.1% 33.0% 31.6%
2022 38 6 32 49.9% 9.3% 56.4%
2023 54 9 45 11.9% -5.6% 15.4%
2024 72 13 59 15.3% 43.4% 9.1%
1980-2024 9,253 3,333 5,920 18.9% 31.2% 12.0%

25
 Table 4i (updated December 30, 2024)

VC-backed Tech IPOs, 1980-2024

There are 2,003 Venture Capital-backed tech IPOs, after excluding those with an offer price below
$5.00 per share, unit offers, ADRs, closed-end funds, best effort offers, natural resource limited
partnerships (and most other LPs, but not buyout firms such as Carlyle Group), special purpose
acquisition companies (SPACs), direct listings, REITs, bank and S&L IPOs, and firms not listed
on CRSP. Missing and questionable numbers from the SDC new issues database are supplemented
by direct inspection of prospectuses on EDGAR, information from Dealogic for IPOs after 1991,
Howard and Co.’s Going Public: The IPO Reporter from 1980-1985, and the Graeme Howard-
Todd Huxster collection of IPO prospectuses for 1975-2006. Tech stocks are defined as internet-
related stocks plus other technology stocks including telecom, but not including biotech. Loughran
and Ritter (2004) list the SIC codes in their appendix 3 and sources of founding dates in appendix
1. The definition of technology stocks has been changed from that in Loughran and Ritter (2004
Financial Management), with SIC=3559, 3576, 3844, and 7389 added to tech. Some 7389
(business services) companies have had their SIC codes changed into non-tech categories, such as
consulting and two new SIC codes that I have made up: 5614 for telemarketing firms and 7388 for
non-tech business services such as Sotheby’s Auctions. I have also added the S.E.C.’s computer
communications equipment code of 3576 for 21 companies, including Cisco Systems.

Price-to-sales ratios are computed using both the offer price (OP) and the first closing market price
(MP) for computing the market capitalization of equity. Market cap is calculated using the post-
issue shares outstanding, with all share classes included in the case of dual-class companies. The
undiluted number of shares is used, which is some cases (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, and Castlight
Health) understates the market cap due to the existence of substantial amounts of in-the-money
employee stock options that are highly likely to be exercised. Sales are the last twelve months
(LTM) revenues as reported in the prospectus. The median sales, in millions, is expressed in both
nominal dollars and in dollars of 2024 purchasing power using the CPI. The median age, in years,
is the number of years since the calendar year of the founding date and the calendar year of the
IPO. The percentage of IPOs that are profitable measures profitability using trailing LTM earnings
(usually using after extraordinary items earnings, and usually using pro forma numbers that are
computed assuming that any recent or concurrent mergers have already occurred, and the
conversion of convertible preferred stock into common stock). In some cases, last fiscal year
earnings are used when LTM earnings are unavailable.

Even concepts like market cap (for the price-to-sales ratios) become ambiguous when you realize
that companies like Facebook have many deep in-the-money options outstanding, so whether
you use the fully diluted number of shares or the undiluted number can affect the calculations
substantially for some companies.

(table on the next page)

26
 Median Median sales,
Number of VC- Price-to-sales $mm Median %
Year backed tech IPOs OP MP Nominal $2024 age profitable
1980 14 3.0 3.4 16.9 67.1 6.5 93%
1981 29 3.8 4.3 11.9 42.2 9 90%
1982 15 6.1 7.6 18.9 62.0 3 67%
1983 67 7.2 8.1 11.7 36.8 5 66%
1984 26 2.3 2.3 21.9 66.2 5 81%
1985 16 3.0 3.3 17.1 50.1 5 81%
1986 31 4.3 4.7 17.0 47.8 5 71%
1987 39 3.2 3.2 22.0 61.0 5 87%
1988 17 2.6 2.7 28.2 75.2 6 94%
1989 23 3.4 3.7 35.5 90.4 7 83%
1990 24 3.9 4.5 28.6 69.1 7.5 100%
1991 45 3.2 3.5 35.9 82.3 9 71%
1992 67 3.9 4.4 22.0 49.1 7 61%
1993 88 3.1 3.6 24.3 52.5 8 72%
1994 64 4.3 5.2 18.9 39.9 8 66%
1995 115 5.5 6.9 19.7 40.4 8 70%
1996 154 9.8 11.3 14.3 28.6 7 35%
1997 73 6.9 8.3 19.3 37.4 6 38%
1998 55 11.6 14.8 18.8 35.9 6 22%
1999 250 30.9 56.6 11.0 20.7 4 9%
2000 183 41.4 65.7 9.3 17.0 5 6%
2001 17 14.9 17.4 22.8 40.2 6 12%
2002 13 3.5 3.9 87.3 152.0 6 31%
2003 12 5.2 6.1 65.0 110.3 7 50%
2004 40 6.9 7.9 41.0 68.3 7 30%
2005 22 6.4 7.2 46.5 75.2 7.5 23%
2006 27 6.2 8.1 51.2 79.7 8 52%
2007 58 7.3 8.3 66.5 98.2 8 26%
2008 4 4.1 4.7 156.7 228.8 12 50%
2009 6 4.6 5.8 105.7 154.3 9.5 50%
2010 23 3.2 3.9 112.9 160.7 10 61%
2011 30 6.8 7.2 117.2 164.2 9.5 37%
2012 35 4.6 5.0 103.7 141.2 9 37%
2013 35 5.8 7.1 104.2 139.5 9 17%
2014 40 6.5 8.2 86.8 114.5 10 18%
2015 29 6.0 7.5 76.6 101.1 10 21%
2016 15 4.5 5.9 101.7 132.5 9 27%
2017 24 5.0 6.9 158.4 201.2 13 13%
2018 30 8.6 12.4 173.6 215.9 12 13%
2019 26 9.8 13.7 146.6 179.7 10.5 15%
2020 33 15.7 27.2 201.3 240.7 11 18%
2021 77 20.3 26.6 136.4 160.8 11 16%
2022 1 20.6 24.0 70.4 77.2 14 0%
2023 4 12.7 13.5 243.8 253.6 8.5 25%
2024 7 9.4 16.5 115.8 115.8 14 14%
1980-2024 2,003 7.6 9.7 24.0 50.5 7 39%

27
 Table 5 (updated December 27, 2024)
Number of U. S. IPOs (excluding ADRs) with an offer price of $5.00 or greater
that doubled (offer to close) in price on the first day of trading, 1997-2024
A listing of each IPO since 1980 that doubled on the first day can be found elsewhere on Jay Ritter’s IPO Data page.
Quarter Number Quarter Number
1997, first 0 2007, first 0
1997, second 2 2007, second 0
1997, third 0 2007, third 0
1997, fourth 0 2007, fourth 0
1998, first 0 2008, first 0
1998, second 2 2008, second 0
1998, third 3 2008, third 0
1998, fourth 7 2008, fourth 0
1999, first 19 2009, first 0
1999, second 24 2009, second 0
1999, third 27 2009, third 0
1999, fourth 45 2009, fourth 0
2000, first 48 2010, first 0
2000, second 9 2010, second 0
2000, third 20 2010, third 0
2000, fourth (Transmeta) 1 2010, fourth (Youku.com ADR) 0
2001, first 0 2011, first (Qihoo 360 ADR) 0
2001, second 0 2011, second (LinkedIn) 1
2001, third 0 2011, third (China Mobile Games ADR) 0
2001, fourth 0 2011, fourth 0
2002, first 0 2012, first 0
2002, second 0 2012, second (Splunk) 1
2002, third 0 2012, third 0
2002, fourth 0 2012, fourth 0
2003, first 0 2013, first 0
2003, second 0 2013, second (Noodles & Co.) 1
2003, third 0 2013, third (Sprout, Benefitfocus) 2
2003, fourth 0 2013, fourth (Potbelly, Container Store) 2
2004, first 0 2014, first 4
2004, second (Jed Oil) 1 2014, second 0
2004, third 0 2014, third 1 (ReWalk Robotics) 1
2004, fourth 0 2014, fourth 1(Habit Restaurants) 1
2005, first 0 2015, first (Spark Therapeutics, Shake Shack) 2
2005, second 0 2015, second (Aduro Biotech, Seres Therapeutics)2
2005, third (Baidu.com is ADR) 0 2015, third (Global Blood Theraperutics) 1
2005, fourth 0 2015, fourth 0
2006, first (Chipotle Mexican) 1 2016, first 0
2006, second 0 2016, second 0
2006, third 0 2016, third 1 (Nutanix)
2006, fourth (Nymex Holdings) 1 2016, fourth 0

28
 Table 5 (continued)

Number of U. S. IPOs (excluding ADRs) with an offer price of $5.00 or greater

that doubled (offer to close) in price on the first day of trading, 1997-2024

The count does not include ADRs, penny stocks, and units.

2017, first 0
2017, second 0
2017, third 0
2017, fourth (Reto Eco-Solutions) 1
2018, first (Zscalar) 1
2018, second 0
2018, third 0
2018, fourth 0
2019, first 0
2019, second (Beyond Meat, ADPT) 2
2019, third 0
2019, fourth (Monopar Therapeutics)1
2020, first 1
2020, second 2
2020, third 10
2020, fourth 9
2021, first 5
2021, second 5
2021, third 4
2021, fourth 4
2022, first (Blue Water Vaccines) 1
2022, second (Genius Group, ZYFG) 2
2022, third (Virax Biolabs Group) 1
2022, fourth 0
2023, first 0
2023, second (U Power Ltd) 1
2023, third 0
2023, fourth 0
2024, first 0
2024, second 0
2024, third (JBDI Holdings Ltd) 1
2024, fourth (zSpace) 1

29
 Table 6 (updated December 27, 2024)
Number of Initial Public Offerings, First-Day Return, and
Revisions from the File Price Range by Cohort Year, 1990-2024
Percentage Percentage Percentage Percentage
Cohort Number First-day of IPOs with of IPOs in the of IPOs with
Year of IPOs Return OP < Lo Middle OP > Hi
1990 97 9.4 24.7 52.6 22.7
1991 262 11.2 19.8 55.3 24.4
1992 363 9.9 38.0 40.5 21.5
1993 461 11.6 21.3 54.0 24.7
1994 334 8.4 37.7 49.7 12.6
1995 390 19.9 19.7 45.4 34.9
1996 600 15.9 25.0 50.2 24.8
1997 421 13.8 29.9 45.8 24.2
1998 284 21.4 27.5 50.0 22.5
1999 465 70.5 14.8 37.2 48.0
2000 371 57.1 22.1 39.4 38.5
2001 78 14.2 25.6 56.4 18.0
2002 67 8.7 32.8 53.7 13.4
2003 65 12.4 15.4 55.4 29.2
2004 172 12.3 37.2 41.9 20.9
2005 161 10.1 34.2 42.9 23.0
2006 155 11.7 39.4 40.6 20.0
2007 155 14.5 32.3 41.3 26.5
2008 21 5.7 47.6 38.1 14.3
2009 42 10.8 33.3 40.5 26.2
2010 97 9.4 48.5 39.2 12.4
2011 81 14.1 37.0 30.9 32.1
2012 100 17.6 42.0 33.0 25.0
2013 161 20.5 29.8 42.2 28.0
2014 218 14.3 44.0 39.0 17.0
2015 123 18.9 35.8 38.2 26.0
2016 75 14.4 33.3 57.3 9.3
2017 111 11.8 23.4 60.4 16.2
2018 136 18.4 16.9 61.8 21.3
2019 113 23.3 15.9 57.5 26.5
2020 153 42.4 7.2 50.3 42.5
2021 293 24.6 18.1 56.3 25.6
2022 27 33.8 25.9 66.7 7.4
2023 31 6.9 32.2 48.4 19.4
2024 59 12.3 17.0 61.0 22.0
1990-2024 6,742 21.5 26.9 47.0 26.1
Banks and S&Ls are included in this table, which excludes IPOs with a midpoint of the original file price range of
less than $8.00, as well as unit offers, small best efforts offers, ADRs, closed-end funds, REITs, partnerships, SPACs,
and stocks not listed on CRSP (CRSP includes firms listed on the NYSE, Amex (now NYSE MKT) and NYSE Arca,
and NASDAQ). If a $5.00 offer price screen was used instead of the $8.00 midpoint screen, the sample size would
increase by, for example, 20 IPOs in 1999 and 23 in 2023. Lo and Hi are the minimum and maximum of the original
file price range. Because the average first-day return is different on the firms that are retained or added than on those
that are deleted, the 6.9% average first-day return in 2023 is less than the 11.9% reported in other tables, such as Table
1.

30
 Table 7 (updated December 27, 2024)

Percentage of IPOs relative to file price range:

Below Within Above

1980-1989 30% 57% 13%
1990-1998 27% 49% 24%
1999-2000 18% 38% 44%
2001-2019 33% 45% 22%
2020-2024 16% 55% 29%

1980-2024 28% 49% 23%

Average first-day returns relative to offer price

categorized by file price range:

Below Within Above

1980-1989 0% 6% 20%
1990-1998 4% 11% 31%
1999-2000 8% 26% 122%
2001-2019 3% 12% 38%
2020-2024 5% 22% 51%

1980-2024 4% 12% 50%

The sample used in this table is described in Table 6.

31
 Table 8 (updated January 1, 2024)

Number of Offerings, Average First-day Returns, and

Gross Proceeds of Initial Public Offerings in 1960-2023

Data from 1960-1974 is taken from Table 1 of Roger Ibbotson, Jody Sindelar, and Jay R. Ritter’s 1994
Journal of Applied Corporate Finance article “The Market’s Problems with the Pricing of Initial Public
Offerings” Vol. 7, No. 1 (Spring 1994), pp. 66-74. Data from 1975-2021 are compiled by Jay R. Ritter
using the LSEG’s new issues database and its predecessors, Dealogic, IPOScoop.com, and other
sources. The 1975-1993 numbers are different from those reported in the 1994 JACF article because the
published article included IPOs that did not qualify for listing on Nasdaq, the Amex, or NYSE (mainly
penny stocks). Unlike other tables, bank and S&L IPOs are included in the counts in this table.

Number of Average Gross Proceeds,

Year Offerings1 First-day Return2 $ Millions3
1960 269 17.8% 553
1961 435 34.1% 1,243
1962 298 -1.6% 431
1963 83 3.9% 246
1964 97 5.3% 380
1965 146 12.7% 409
1966 85 7.1% 275
1967 100 37.7% 641
1968 368 55.9% 1,205
1969 780 12.5% 2,605
1970 358 -0.7% 780
1971 391 21.2% 1,655
1972 562 7.5% 2,724
1973 105 -17.8% 330
1974 9 -7.0% 51
1975 12 -0.2% 261
1976 26 1.9% 215
1977 15 3.6% 128
1978 19 13.3% 197
1979 39 8.9% 309
1980 71 14.3% 905
1981 192 5.9% 2,306
1982 79 10.7% 1,012
1983 521 9.0% 11,306
1984 213 3.0% 2,566
1985 217 6.6% 4,749
1986 478 6.1% 15,489
1987 337 5.7% 12,568
1988 132 5.3% 4,089
1989 124 7.7% 5,886
1990 116 10.4% 4,334
1991 293 11.8% 16,464
1992 416 10.2% 22,750

32
 1993 527 12.7% 31,654
1994 410 9.6% 17,418
1995 465 21.3% 27,993
1996 689 17.1% 42,428
1997 485 14.0% 32,547
1998 310 20.6% 34,416
1999 484 70.0% 64,809
2000 382 56.1% 64,931
2001 80 14.0% 35,288
2002 70 8.6% 22,136
2003 68 11.9% 10,075
2004 181 12.4% 31,663
2005 167 10.0% 28,578
2006 162 12.0% 30,648
2007 160 14.0% 35,704
2008 21 5.7% 22,762
2009 42 10.8% 13,296
2010 98 9.3% 30,624
2011 82 13.8% 27,750
2012 101 17.3% 31,973
2013 163 20.6% 41,909
2014 222 14.9% 46,852
2015 125 18.7% 22,296
2016 79 14.0% 13,234
2017 117 12.3% 24,032
2018 143 17.8% 34,043
2019 120 22.4% 39,725
2020 165 41.6% 61,860
2021 315 31.9% 119,632
2022 39 47.7% 7,004
2023 54 11.9% 11,916
2024
1960-69 2,661 21.2% 7,988
1970-79 1,536 7.1% 6,663
1980-89 2,364 6.9% 60,874
1990-99 4,195 21.1% 294,814
2000-23 3,156 23.0% 807,932
1960-2023 13,912 17.6% 1,178,271

1
Beginning in 1975, the number of offerings excludes IPOs with an offer price of less than $5.00, ADRs, small best
efforts offers, units, Regulation A offers (small issues, raising less than $1.5 million during the 1980s and $5 million
until 2012), real estate investment trusts (REITs), SPACs, natural resource limited partnerships, and closed-end
funds. Banks and S&L IPOs are included. From 2012 and later, Regulation A offerings (issues raising up to $50
million are eligible) are included.
2
First-day returns are computed as the percentage return from the offering price to the first closing market price.
3
Gross proceeds exclude overallotment options but include the international tranche, if any. No adjustments for
inflation have been made.

33
 Table 9 (updated December 30, 2024)

Fraction of IPOs with Negative Earnings, 1980-2024

IPOs with an offer price below $5.00 per share, unit offers, ADRs, closed-end funds, partnerships,
acquisition companies, REITs, bank and S&L IPOs, and firms not listed on CRSP within six
months of the offer date are excluded. When available, I use the earnings per share for the most
recent twelve months (commonly known as LTM for last twelve months) prior to going public.
When a merger is involved, we use the pro forma numbers (as if the merger had already occurred).
I am not completely consistent in the use of earnings before or after extraordinary items. Some
extraordinary items are associated with the IPO, including gains or losses on conversion of
convertible securities at the time of the IPO, or writeups or writedowns associated with mergers. I
usually use the before extraordinary items EPS if the one-time charges are associated with the IPO.
When the trailing twelve months EPS number is unavailable, I use the most recent fiscal year EPS
number. Missing numbers are supplemented by direct inspection of prospectuses on EDGAR, EPS
information from Dealogic for IPOs after 1991, and Howard and Co.’s Going Public: The IPO
Reporter from 1980-1995. Remaining missing numbers have been found in the Graeme Howard-
Todd Huxster collection of IPO prospectuses and the Stanford Business School microfiche
collection of prospectuses from the 1980s. Don Patton of UC-Davis has tracked down a couple of
remaining missing numbers. Tech stocks are defined as internet-related stocks plus other
technology stocks, not including biotech. Loughran and Ritter (2004) list the SIC codes in their
appendix 3 and sources of founding dates in appendix 1. There is one IPO from 1986 with missing
earnings. I assume that the earnings were positive for this firm.

Number No. with Percentage Percentage of Mean First-day Returns

Year of IPOs missing EPS Tech Stocks IPOs with EPS<0 EPS<0 EPS≥0
1980-1989 2,047 1 29% 19% 9.2% 6.8%
1990-1998 3,616 0 34% 32% 16.0% 14.3%
1999-2000 856 0 74% 78% 71.1% 41.6%
2001-2024 2,734 0 32% 62% 20.1% 16.6%

2001-2010 1,010 0 34% 46% 10.1% 12.9%

2011-2024 1,724 0 31% 71% 23.9% 20.7%

1980-2024 9,253 1 36% 42% 26.5% 13.4%

(year-by-year on the next page)

34
 Number Percentage Percentage of Mean First-day Returns
Year of IPOs Tech Stocks IPOs with EPS<0 EPS<0 EPS≥0
1980 71 31% 24% 7.1% 16.5%
1981 192 38% 17% 8.0% 5.4%
1982 77 55% 19% 6.4% 12.1%
1983 451 38% 22% 14.0% 8.8%
1984 171 29% 16% 11.1% 2.2%
1985 186 20% 15% 5.2% 6.6%
1986 393 20% 21% 8.8% 5.4%
1987 285 20% 17% 5.1% 5.8%
1988 105 27% 18% 6.0% 5.3%
1989 116 30% 22% 8.3% 7.9%
1990 110 28% 15% 9.5% 11.0%
1991 286 24% 24% 9.4% 12.7%
1992 412 28% 29% 10.2% 10.3%
1993 510 25% 28% 12.6% 12.8%
1994 402 29% 26% 8.0% 10.2%
1995 462 44% 30% 22.5% 21.0%
1996 677 40% 41% 16.7% 17.6%
1997 474 36% 36% 12.6% 14.9%
1998 283 40% 46% 32.1% 13.1%
1999 476 78% 76% 81.0% 40.2%
2000 380 68% 81% 59.4% 43.8%
2001 80 29% 49% 15.3% 12.8%
2002 66 30% 45% 5.6% 12.0%
2003 63 29% 44% 10.0% 13.2%
2004 173 35% 50% 11.9% 12.7%
2005 159 28% 45% 7.3% 12.8%
2006 157 31% 40% 7.3% 15.4%
2007 159 48% 55% 13.8% 14.3%
2008 21 29% 43% 1.8% 8.7%
2009 41 34% 29% 12.8% 8.6%
2010 91 36% 41% 6.9% 11.1%
2011 81 44% 57% 11.0% 17.7%
2012 93 43% 46% 22.4% 13.7%
2013 158 29% 63% 20.2% 21.9%
2014 206 25% 71% 17.1% 11.4%
2015 118 32% 70% 19.1% 19.6%
2016 75 28% 67% 13.2% 17.0%
2017 106 28% 77% 12.4% 14.8%
2018 134 29% 81% 20.4% 10.5%
2019 113 32% 77% 25.2% 17.9%
2020 165 25% 80% 45.3% 26.9%
2021 311 38% 75% 30.0% 38.6%
2022 38 16% 76% 54.1% 32.4%
2023 54 17% 65% 13.9% 8.1%
2024 72 18% 62% 10.3% 23.7%
1980-2024 9,253 36% 42% 26.5% 13.4%

35
 Table 10 (updated January 1, 2024)

Gross Spreads Continue to Remain at 7% on Moderate-Size Deals

Here are the numbers for 2001-2023 for U.S. operating company IPOs raising at least $30
million ($2022) using bookbuilding, using the screens in Table 1. The 16 true auctions in 2001-
2013 listed in Table 13 are not included. Proceeds numbers do not include overallotment shares.

Proceeds Category
$30-130 million (inflation-adjusted in 2022 $) more than $130 million (2022 $)

<7% 8.0% (107) 68.1% (665)

=7% 91.0% (1,222) 31.7% (310)
>7% 1.0% (14) 0.2% (2)

Total 100% (1,343 IPOs) 100% (977 IPOs)

So, with a few exceptions (some of these are Canadian firms, and others were taken public by
WRHambrecht using auctions), 7% gross spreads for moderate-size IPOs are as entrenched as
ever. Indeed, in 1999-2000, deals above $100 million increasingly had 7% spreads, and this has
stuck—in 2001-2022 48.8% of large IPOs also had spreads of exactly 7%. In contrast, during
1997-1998 only 53 of 158 large IPOs (33.5%) had a gross spread of exactly 7%. See Hsuan-Chi
Chen and Jay R. Ritter’s “The Seven Percent Solution” in the June 2000 issue of the Journal of
Finance for evidence from earlier years, available at

https://site.warrington.ufl.edu/ritter/files/2016/01/The-Seven-Percent-Solution-2000-06.pdf

and the updated graph at

https://site.warrington.ufl.edu/ritter/files/IPOs-gross-spreads.pdf

36
 Table 11 (updated January 1, 2024)

Mean and Median Gross Spreads and Number of Managing Underwriters, 1980-2023

IPOs with an offer price below $5.00 per share, unit offers, ADRs, closed-end funds, REITs, bank
and S&L IPOs, energy limited partnerships, and firms not listed on CRSP within six months of the
offer date are excluded. EW is equally weighted and PW is proceeds-weighted. The fraction=7%
is the percentage of IPOs with a gross spread equal to exactly 7%. The number of managing
underwriters is the sum of both leads and co-managers. The decrease in the fraction of IPOs with
a 7% spread in 2001-2002 is due to the smaller fraction of deals with proceeds of less than $150
million. In 2008 (Visa with a spread of 2.8% on a $17.9 billion IPO), 2010 (General Motors with
a spread of 0.75% on a $15.8 billion IPO), 2012 (Facebook with a 1.1% spread on a $16 billion
IPO), and 2019 (Uber Technologies with a spread of 1.3% on an $8,.1 billion IPO), a higher
fraction of IPOs were mega-deals with a gross spread far below 7%. UW is Underwriter.

In the top panel, proceeds categories are expressed in dollars of 2022 purchasing power, and
overallotment shares are not included. The bottom panel (on the next page) reports year-by-year
numbers.

Mean and Median Gross Spreads by Proceeds Categories, 2001-2023 ($2022)

Number Mean Median Mean

Proceeds of IPOs Gross spread Gross spread First-day Returns
Less than $10 million 46 7.54% 7.50% 6.14%
$10-49.99 million 277 7.17% 7.00% 28.19%
$50-99.99 million 549 6.98% 7.00% 9.05%
$100-199.99 million 770 6.92% 7.00% 21.34%
$200-999.99 million 869 6.35% 6.50% 20.98%
$1 billion or more 151 4.27% 4.50% 16.59%

2001-2023 2,662 6.63% 7.00% 18.9%

Note: For the smallest deals, it is not uncommon to have a “nonaccountable expense allowance”
equal to up to 3% of the proceeds in addition to the gross spread. As a result, the underwriter
compensation for these small deals in higher than the numbers reported here.

37
 Gross Spreads Fraction with Number of
Number Mean Mean Multiple Managing UWs
Year of IPOs EW PW Median =7% Bookrunners Mean Median
1980 71 8.0% 7.2% 7.5% 3% 0.0% 1.4 1.0
1981 193 7.9% 7.3% 7.5% 4% 0.0% 1.3 1.0
1982 77 8.1% 7.3% 7.9% 9% 0.0% 1.4 1.0
1983 451 7.7% 6.9% 7.3% 14% 0.0% 1.5 1.0
1984 171 7.9% 7.3% 7.5% 15% 0.0% 1.5 1.0
1985 186 7.7% 6.6% 7.5% 13% 0.0% 1.4 1.0
1986 393 7.5% 6.2% 7.2% 15% 0.0% 1.5 1.0
1987 285 7.5% 6.0% 7.1% 23% 0.0% 1.8 2.0
1988 105 7.3% 6.3% 7.0% 30% 0.0% 1.7 2.0
1989 116 7.3% 6.3% 7.0% 41% 0.0% 1.7 2.0
1990 110 7.3% 6.5% 7.0% 44% 0.0% 1.9 2.0
1991 286 7.1% 6.3% 7.0% 50% 0.0% 2.0 2.0
1992 412 7.2% 6.3% 7.0% 52% 0.0% 2.1 2.0
1993 510 7.2% 6.2% 7.0% 57% 0.4% 2.0 2.0
1994 402 7.3% 6.5% 7.0% 55% 0.0% 2.0 2.0
1995 462 7.2% 6.3% 7.0% 64% 0.0% 2.3 2.0
1996 677 7.2% 6.2% 7.0% 68% 0.0% 2.4 2.0
1997 474 7.2% 6.4% 7.0% 68% 0.8% 2.5 2.0
1998 283 7.1% 5.5% 7.0% 68% 1.8% 2.9 3.0
1999 476 6.9% 5.7% 7.0% 82% 4.6% 3.4 3.0
2000 380 6.9% 5.6% 7.0% 82% 7.4% 3.7 3.0
2001 80 6.6% 4.6% 7.0% 61% 19.0% 4.4 4.0
2002 66 6.7% 5.2% 7.0% 71% 28.8% 4.7 4.0
2003 63 7.0% 6.7% 7.0% 78% 31.7% 3.9 4.0
2004 173 6.8% 5.7% 7.0% 78% 37.0% 4.5 4.0
2005 159 6.7% 6.1% 7.0% 65% 50.3% 4.7 4.0
2006 157 6.8% 6.1% 7.0% 69% 54.1% 4.9 4.0
2007 159 6.7% 5.7% 7.0% 73% 60.4% 5.3 5.0
2008 21 6.4% 3.4% 7.0% 62% 76.2% 7.3 5.0
2009 41 6.4% 5.6% 7.0% 49% 85.4% 6.9 6.0
2010 91 6.7% 3.5% 7.0% 69% 83.5% 6.2 5.0
2011 81 6.4% 5.1% 7.0% 54% 87.7% 7.0 6.0
2012 93 6.7% 3.6% 7.0% 72% 93.5% 6.8 6.0
2013 158 6.6% 5.4% 7.0% 64% 91.8% 6.9 6.0
2014 206 6.6% 5.4% 7.0% 72% 90.3% 6.4 5.0
2015 118 6.7% 5.9% 7.0% 72% 90.7% 5.6 5.0
2016 75 6.7% 6.1% 7.0% 68% 94.7% 6.3 5.0
2017 106 6.6% 5.5% 7.0% 64% 90.6% 6.3 5.0
2018 134 6.5% 5.4% 7.0% 68% 95.5% 6.3 4.0
2019 112 6.5% 4.5% 7.0% 66% 94.6% 6.8 5.0
2020 165 6.6% 5.2% 7.0% 67% 89.1% 6.7 4.0
2021 311 6.4% 5.0% 7.0% 50% 87.7% 7.5 6.0
2022 39 6.8% 5.4% 7.0% 46% 59.0% 5.6 3.0
2023 54 6.8% 5.0% 7.0% 41% 53.7% 5.3 3.0
2024

1980-2023 9,181 7.1% 5.4% 7.0% 51% 25.8% 3.3 2.0

38
 Table 11a (April 15, 2024)

First-day and Long-run Returns on IPOs by Lead-left Underwriter, 2012-2021

1,479 operating company IPOs from 2012-2021 are used, with returns calculated through the end
of December 2023. IPOs are categorized by the underwriter listed in the top left of the managing
underwriters on the first page of the IPO prospectus (S.E.C. Form 424). The 11 underwriters with
the highest number of operating company IPOs are listed, with other underwriters grouped into
two other categories. Others (regionals) include Wm. Blair, Piper-Jaffray, Raymond James, RBC
Capital Markets, UBS, Wells Fargo and other underwriters not otherwise named below with an
underwriter rank of 6.0 or higher on a 1-to-9 scale. Others (lower tier) include Aegis, Boustead,
EF Hutton, Maxim Group and others with an underwriter rank of below 6.0. IPOs with an offer
price below $5.00 per share, unit offers, ADRs, REITs, closed end funds, natural resource
partnerships, banks and S&Ls, small best efforts offers, and IPOs not listed on CRSP within six
months of the offer date are excluded. mm is millions of dollars. Buy-and-hold returns are
calculated from the first closing market price (not from the offer price) until the earlier of the three-
year anniversary or the delisting date (no later than Friday, Dec. 29 of 2023 for IPOs from 2021).
Market-adjusted returns use the CRSP value-weighted index. Style adjustments use firms matched
by market cap and book-to-market ratio with at least five years of CRSP listing and no follow-on
equity issues in the prior five years. Specifically, the firm with the closest book-to-market ratio
within the size decile of the IPO is used for the matching firm. For companies with dual-class
shares, the post-issue book-to-market ratio is calculated using the post-issue total shares
outstanding for all share classes. Market capitalization (size) is calculated using the first closing
market price after the IPO and the post-issue basic number of shares outstanding, a procedure that
assumes that nontraded share classes would have the same price as traded shares, and that
outstanding stock options have zero value. If a matching firm is delisted before the IPO, it is
assumed that the proceeds of the delisted firm are then invested in the next-best matching firm at
the time of the IPO. All returns include dividends and capital gains, including the index returns.

Average
Number First-day Average 3-year Buy-and-hold Return
Underwriter of IPOs Return IPOs Market-adjusted Style-adjusted

Goldman Sachs 272 27.6% 6.5% -22.3% -33.9%

JPM 224 25.7% 20.9% -7.8% 5.6%
Morgan Stanley 218 26.9% 31.3% 3.0% 2.5%
BOA-Merrill 133 24.5% 15.0% -15.8% -8.5%
Jefferies 91 24.3% -2.1% -32.2% -33.5%
Citigroup 82 8.0% 21.9% -10.5% -27.7%
UBS/Credit-Suisse 89 10.9% 16.8% -17.3% -16.2%
Barclays 46 16.7% 28.9% 0.7% 10.9%
Cowen 29 26.1% -43.4% -74.0% -100.3%
Deutsche Bank 19 11.7% 44.4% 12.7% -1.8%
Stifel 18 12.3% 44.8% 11.7% 25.3%
Others (regionals) 118 11.1% 9.8% -24.5% -16.3%
Others (lower tier) 140 38.2% -42.3% -67.4% -28.1%

2012-2021 1,479 23.6% 10.4% -19.3% -15.6%

39
 Table 12 (updated January 3, 2025)
Number of IPOs Categorized by the LTM Sales (in millions of 2024 $), 1980-2024

LTM is last twelve months. MV is the post-issue market value valued at the offer price. Sales and market
value are in millions. PSR is the price-to-sales ratio, and is the median ratio, not the ratio of medians.
Number of IPOs Percentage of IPOs Medians, $2024
Year <$100 m >$100 m <$100 m >$100m Sales MV PSR
1980 47 24 66% 34% 71 120 2.2
1981 148 44 77% 23% 45 117 2.9
1982 62 15 81% 19% 34 105 3.0
1983 298 153 66% 34% 46 142 2.8
1984 117 54 68% 32% 62 53 1.6
1985 102 84 55% 45% 74 68 1.3
1986 226 167 58% 42% 79 77 1.5
1987 152 133 53% 47% 86 96 1.5
1988 48 57 46% 54% 135 116 1.5
1989 60 56 52% 48% 97 111 2.0
1990 58 52 53% 47% 90 124 2.0
1991 138 148 48% 52% 112 127 1.6
1992 211 201 51% 49% 94 119 1.8
1993 260 250 51% 49% 98 115 1.9
1994 239 163 59% 41% 75 92 1.8
1995 277 185 60% 40% 63 134 3.0
1996 433 244 64% 36% 51 137 3.9
1997 289 185 61% 39% 66 133 3.0
1998 164 119 58% 42% 75 187 3.4
1999 365 111 77% 23% 30 361 18.4
2000 289 91 76% 24% 23 460 30.1
2001 26 54 32% 68% 238 479 2.3
2002 16 50 24% 76% 425 517 2.1
2003 20 43 32% 68% 282 370 2.7
2004 79 94 46% 54% 141 298 3.8
2005 56 103 35% 65% 216 360 2.6
2006 61 96 39% 61% 169 325 3.8
2007 68 91 43% 57% 130 373 6.1
2008 4 17 19% 81% 278 375 4.0
2009 6 35 15% 85% 387 517 1.8
2010 26 65 29% 71% 213 355 2.7
2011 27 54 33% 67% 212 614 4.9
2012 26 67 28% 72% 203 377 3.4
2013 64 94 41% 59% 151 441 5.0
2014 107 99 52% 48% 97 286 7.2
2015 67 51 57% 43% 74 403 9.8
2016 37 38 49% 51% 105 422 5.0
2017 48 58 45% 55% 145 470 6.2
2018 75 59 56% 44% 53 644 12.8
2019 62 51 55% 45% 74 693 14.4
2020 100 65 61% 39% 34 926 23.5
2021 144 167 46% 54% 128 1378 18.4
2022 29 9 76% 24% 1 290 234
2023 37 17 69% 31% 7 283 12.4
2024 41 31 57% 43% 55 619 7.5
1980-2024 5,209 4,044 56% 44% 76 293 3.4

40
 Table 12a (updated January 3, 2025)
Number of IPOs Categorized by the LTM Sales (in 2024 $), 1980-2024

MV is the post-issue market value valued at the first closing price. Sales and MV are in millions. PSR is the price-to-
sales ratio, calculated using the first closing market price and using the post-issue number of shares in all share classes.
Number of IPOs Percentage of IPOs Medians, $2024
Year <$100 m >$100 m <$100 m >$100 m Sales MV PSR
1980 47 24 66% 34% 71 134 2.5
1981 148 44 77% 23% 45 128 2.9
1982 62 15 81% 19% 34 110 3.1
1983 298 153 66% 34% 46 152 3.2
1984 117 54 68% 32% 62 88 1.6
1985 102 84 55% 45% 74 111 1.5
1986 226 167 58% 42% 79 126 1.6
1987 152 133 53% 47% 86 160 1.6
1988 48 57 46% 54% 135 204 1.6
1989 60 56 52% 48% 97 198 2.4
1990 58 52 53% 47% 90 211 2.2
1991 138 148 48% 52% 112 233 1.8
1992 211 201 51% 49% 94 214 2.0
1993 260 250 51% 49% 98 201 2.1
1994 239 163 59% 41% 75 159 2.1
1995 277 185 60% 40% 63 259 3.5
1996 433 244 64% 36% 51 255 4.5
1997 289 185 61% 39% 66 240 3.4
1998 164 119 58% 42% 75 361 3.6
1999 365 111 77% 23% 30 892 30.3
2000 289 91 76% 24% 23 1037 40.9
2001 26 54 32% 68% 238 832 2.8
2002 16 50 24% 76% 425 907 2.3
2003 20 43 32% 68% 282 634 2.7
2004 79 94 46% 54% 141 569 4.2
2005 56 103 35% 65% 216 561 2.7
2006 61 96 39% 61% 169 571 3.9
2007 68 91 43% 57% 130 738 6.7
2008 4 17 19% 81% 278 688 3.9
2009 6 35 15% 85% 387 1006 2.0
2010 26 65 29% 71% 213 613 2.8
2011 27 54 33% 67% 212 1208 5.6
2012 26 67 28% 72% 203 814 4.4
2013 64 94 41% 59% 151 923 5.4
2014 107 99 52% 48% 97 566 8.9
2015 67 51 57% 43% 74 706 12.2
2016 37 38 49% 51% 105 662 6.5
2017 48 58 45% 55% 145 823 7.5
2018 75 59 56% 44% 53 778 17.5
2019 62 51 55% 45% 74 970 18.3
2020 100 65 61% 39% 34 1318 38.2
2021 144 167 46% 54% 128 1683 23.1
2022 29 9 76% 24% 1 505 526
2023 37 17 69% 31% 7 259 11.1
2024 41 31 57% 43% 55 724 8.3
1980-2024 5,209 4,044 56% 44% 76 330 3.8

41
 Table 12b (updated January 1, 2024)
Number of IPOs Categorized by the LTM Sales (in 2011 $), 1980-2023
Number Number of IPOs Percentage of IPOs
Year of IPOs <$1 billion >$1 billion <$1 billion >$1 billion
1980 71 71 0 100% 0%
1981 192 190 2 99% 1%
1982 77 77 0 100% 0%
1983 451 440 11 98% 2%
1984 171 169 2 99% 1%
1985 186 182 4 98% 2%
1986 393 375 18 95% 5%
1987 285 267 18 94% 6%
1988 105 94 11 90% 10%
1989 116 108 8 93% 7%
1990 110 103 7 94% 6%
1991 286 270 16 94% 6%
1992 412 385 27 93% 7%
1993 510 481 29 94% 6%
1994 402 384 18 96% 4%
1995 462 437 25 95% 5%
1996 677 658 19 97% 3%
1997 474 450 24 95% 5%
1998 283 264 19 93% 7%
1999 476 455 21 96% 4%
2000 380 366 14 96% 4%
2001 80 60 20 75% 25%
2002 66 50 16 76% 24%
2003 63 58 5 92% 8%
2004 173 151 22 87% 13%
2005 159 139 20 87% 13%
2006 157 138 19 88% 12%
2007 159 142 17 89% 11%
2008 21 18 3 86% 14%
2009 41 28 13 68% 32%
2010 91 78 13 86% 14%
2011 81 67 14 83% 17%
2012 93 77 16 83% 17%
2013 158 128 30 81% 19%
2014 206 175 31 85% 15%
2015 118 107 11 91% 9%
2016 75 61 14 81% 19%
2017 106 90 16 85% 15%
2018 134 122 12 91% 9%
2019 112 103 9 92% 8%
2020 165 148 17 90% 10%
2021 311 286 25 92% 8%
2022 39 36 3 92% 8%
2023 54 47 7 87% 13%
2024
1980-2023 9,181 8,535 646 93% 7%

42
 Table 13 (updated January 1, 2024)

IPO Auctions in the U.S., 1999-2022

The average first-day return on WRHambrecht’s 19 IPO auctions has been 12.6%. For the 22
auction IPOs, including those by other underwriters, the average first-day return has been 12.5%.
In 2020-2021, the five IPOs listed used bookbuilding although the issuer insisted that all
indications of interest include both price and quantity indications. For IPO auctions for which
WRHambrecht was the bookrunner, the numbers are as follows:

Gross Gross First-day

Name of IPO (ticker) Date of IPO Spread Proceeds Return

1999: (3 out of 476 IPOs)

Ravenswood Winery (RVWD) 19990408 4.00% $10.5 million 3.62%
Salon.com (SALN) 19990622 5.00% $26.25 million -4.76%
Andover.net (ANDN) 19991208 6.50% $72.0 million 252.08%
2000: (1 out of 380 IPOs)
Nogatech (NGTC) 20000518 6.50% $42.0 million -21.58%
2001: (2 out of 79 IPOs)
Peet’s Coffee (PEET) 20010125 6.50% $26.4 million 17.25%
Briazz (BRZZ) 20010502 6.00% $16.0 million 0.38%
2002: (1 out of 66 IPOs)
Overstock.com (OSTK) 20020529 4.00% $39.0 million 0.23%
2003: (2 out of 63 IPOs)
RedEnvelope (REDE) 20030925 6.00% $30.8 million 3.93%
Genitope (GTOP) 20031029 7.00% $33.3 million 11.11%
In 2003, WRHambrecht was also the joint bookrunner with JP Morgan on the Sunset Financial Resources IPO that
did not use an auction.

2004: (1 out of 173 IPOs)

New River Pharmaceuticals (NRPH) 20040805 7.00% $33.6 million -6.25%
In 2004, WRHambrecht was a co-manager on the Google auction IPO for which CSFB and Morgan Stanley were
the bookrunners. The IPO climbed 18.04% on its first day of trading.

2005: (5 out of 159 IPOs)

B of I Holding (BOFI) 20050315 6.00% $35.1 million 0.00%
Morningstar (MORN) 20050502 2.00% $140.83 million 8.38%
CryoCor (CRYO) 20050714 7.00% $40.8 million -1.18%
Avalon Pharmaceuticals (AVRX) 20050928 7.00% $28.8 million -5.10%
Dover Saddlery (DOVR) 20051117 5.00% $27.5 million 2.50%
2006: (2 out of 157 IPOs)
Traffic.com (TRFC) 20060125 6.00% $78.6 million 1.25%
FortuNet (FNET) 20060131 4.50% $22.5 million 0.56%
2007: (2 out of 159 IPOs)
Interactive Brokers Group (IBKR) 20070504 1.88% $1,200.4 million 4.30%
Clean Energy Fuels (CLNE) 20070525 5.85% $120.0 million 0.33%
In 2007, WRHambrecht was a co-manager on the Netsuite auction IPO for which Credit Suisse was the bookrunner.
The IPO climbed 36.54% on the first day of trading.

43
2008: (0 out of 21 IPOs)
In 2008, WRHambrecht was a co-manager on the Rackspace Hosting auction IPO for which Credit Suisse, Goldman
Sachs, and Merrill Lynch were joint bookrunners. The IPO dropped 19.92% on its first day of trading.

2009: (0 out of 41 IPOs)

2010: (0 out of 91 IPOs)
2011: (0 out of 81 IPOs)
2012: (0 out of 93 IPOs)
2013: (1 out 158 IPOs)
Truett-Hurst Inc (THST) 20130619 7.00% $16.2 million -5.33%
2014: (0 out of 206 IPOs)
2015: (0 out 118 IPOs)
2016: (0 out of 75 IPOs)
2017: (0 out of 106 IPOs)
2018: (0 out of 134 IPOs)
2019: (0 out of 112 IPOs)
2020: (3 out of 165 IPOs)
Unity Software (U) 20200918 4.75% $1,300.0 million 31.4%
DoorDash (DASH) 20201209 2.40% $3,366.0 million 85.8%
Airbnb (ABNB) 20201210 2.12% $3,490.0 million 112.8%
2021:
ACV Auctions (ACVA) 20210324 6.00% $413.8 million 25.0%
Marqeta (MQ) 20210609 6.50% $1,227.3 million 13.0%
2022: (0 out of 39 IPOs)
2023: (0 out of 54 IPOs)
Financial press articles stated that Unity required that all indications of interest submitted to the lead-left underwriter
(Goldman Sachs) had to include a price as well as quantity of shares requested. Bids at multiple prices were
permitted. All bids at or above the offer price received shares, but Unity reserved the right to make non-pro rata
allocations among the winning bidders. DoorDash (Goldman Sachs), Airbnb (Morgan Stanley), ACV Auctions
(Goldman Sachs), and Marqeta (Goldman Sachs) used similar procedures. All raised the offer price substantially,
but still left huge amounts of money on the table. These 2020-2021 IPOs used bookbuilding, but indications of
interest were required to have both price and quantity information.
WR Hambrecht has also been a bookrunner on several other IPOs that did not use an auction. For example, on
20150415, they did a $76 million best efforts IPO of Xbiotech (XBIT), which increased 22.37% on the first day of
trading, on 20170630 they did a $12.0 million IPO for ShiftPixy, and on 20170921 they did a $19.1 million IPO for
Arcimoto.

44
 Table 13a: Direct Listings in the U.S., 2018-2024
(updated February 2, 2024)

With direct listings, no shares trade hands at the reference price. Instead, there is typically a large
block trade at the open. The first-day return is thus calculated from the open to the closing price.
With traditional IPOs, including auctions, the first-day return would be computed from the offer
price to the close. The returns calculated in these two manners reflect the returns earned by
buyers who bought from the issuer and selling shareholders. The July 2019 Nasdaq listing of
iHeartMedia (IHRT) is not included because the stock was traded OTC beforehand. For Watford
Holdings, the “Current Reference Price” is used instead of a “Reference Price” based on the front
page of the SEC Form 424B3 prospectus. For this company, there had been no private market
transactions on which to base a reference price. The current reference price was defined to be the
market-clearing opening price.

Thryv Holdings has unusually low volume on the first day of trading, only 9,569 shares (this
number has been confirmed with the company as correct). It had much higher volume on the
second day, 208,916 shares, with a price jump to a close of $14.39. The prospectus for Thryv
Holdings reports 30,829,145 shares outstanding, giving it a market cap at the opening price of
$430 million, considerably less than the unicorns doing direct listings.

Bright Green Corporation also did not have a reference price, but instead has a current reference
price that is equal to the opening trade.

45
 Table 13a

Direct Listings in the U.S., 2018-2024

In the bottom panel, the last column is a measure of intraday volatility on the first day of trading.
The average volatility for these five direct listings is about the same as that on the IPOs of
similar companies. High, low, and closing prices, as well as trading volume, come from
BigCharts.Marketwatch.com or WSJ.com.

Panel A: First day return from the open to close

Date of Prices First-day
Name of IPO (ticker) Listing Reference Open Close Return
Spotify Technology (SPOT) 20180403 $132.00 $165.90 $149.01 -10.2%
Watford Holdings (WTRE) 20190328 $25.26 $25.26 $27.00 6.9%
Slack (WORK) 20190620 $26.00 $38.50 $38.62 0.3%
Asana (ASAN) 20200930 $21.00 $27.00 $28.80 6.7%
Palantir Technologies (PLTR) 20200930 $7.25 $10.00 $9.50 -5.0%
Thryv Holdings (THRY) 20201001 $12.40 $14.00 $11.075 -20.9%
Roblox (RBLX) 20210310 $45.00 $64.50 $69.50 7.8%
Coinbase Global (COIN) 20210414 $250.00 $381.00 $328.28 -13.8%
SquareSpace (SQSP) 20210519 $50.00 $48.00 $43.65 -9.1%
ZipRecruiter (ZIP) 20210526 $18.00 $20.00 $21.10 5.5%
Amplitude (AMPL) 20210928 $35.00 $50.00 $54.80 9.6%
Warby Parker (WRBY) 20210929 $40.00 $54.11 $54.49 0.7%
Bright Green (BGXX) 20220517 $15.99 $15.99 $25.245 57.9%
Surf Air Mobility (SRFM) 20230727 $20.00 $5.00 $3.15 -37.0%
Courtside Group (PODC) 20230908 $8.00 $4.30 $4.39 2.1%
reAlpha Tech (AIRE) 20231023 $8.00 $23.01 $406.67 1,667.4%

FibroBiologics (FBLG) 20240131 $8.00 $30.00 $29.10 -3.0%

46
 Table 13a (continued)

Panel B: Intraday Volatility

Trading Prices (High-Low)

Name of IPO (ticker) Volume Low High Close ÷Close, %
Spotify Technology (SPOT) 30,526,500 $148.26 $165.90 $149.01 11.8%
Watford Holdings Ltd (WTRE) 129,131 $25.26 $27.40 $27.00 7.9%
Slack (WORK) 137,364,188 $38.25 $42.00 $38.62 9.7%
Asana (ASAN) 40,825,910 $26.75 $29.96 $28.80 11.1%
Palantir Technologies (PLTR) 338,584,375 $9.11 $11.42 $9.50 24.3%
Thryv Holdings (THRY) 9,569 $10.60 $14.00 $11.075 30.7%
Roblox (RBLX) 97,069,344 $60.50 $74.83 $69.50 20.6%
Coinbase Global (COIN) 81,065,750 $310.00 $429.54 $328.28 36.4%
SquareSpace (SQSP) 5,471,014 $42.82 $50.02 $43.65 16.5%
ZipRecruiter (ZIP) 16,606,301 $19.32 $21.69 $21.10 11.2%
Amplitude (AMPL) 11,529,531 $50.00 $54.90 $54.80 8.9%
Warby Parker (WRBY) 13,805,076 $52.96 $54.74 $54.49 3.3%
Bright Green (BGXX) 315,750 $15.99 $36.44 $26.245 77.9%
Surf Air Mobility (SFRM) 3,237,295 $2.75 $5.00 $3.15 71.4%
Courtside Group (PODC) 1,054,440 $3.89 $5.80 $4.39 43.5%
reAlpha Tech (AIRE) 32,239 $23.01 $575.41 $406.67 135.8%

FibroBiologics (FBLG) 68,731 $22.00 $55.00 $29.10 113.4%

47
 Table 13b (updated April 2, 2024)

Long-run Returns on Auction IPOs and Direct Listings

23 IPOs using auctions from 1999-2008, including one bank offering (B of I Holdings), are used,
along with 13 direct listings from 2018-2022, with returns calculated through December 29, 2023.
The companies are listed in Tables 13 (auctions) and 13a (direct listings). The five IPOs during
2020-2022 that used bookbuilding with limit orders, listed in Table 13 as auctions, are not
included. For the direct listings, the first-day return is computed from the opening price to the
closing price, whereas for the auction IPOs, the offer price is used to calculate the first-day return.
Buy-and-hold returns are calculated from the first closing market price until the earlier of the three-
year anniversary or the delisting date, or December 29, 2023. Market-adjusted returns use the
CRSP value-weighted index. Style adjustments use firms matched by market cap and book-to-
market ratio with at least five years of CRSP listing and no follow-on equity issues in the prior
five years. The market-adjusted and style-adjusted returns are the average buy-and-hold return on
the IPOs minus the average compounded return on the benchmark. Market capitalization (size) is
calculated using the first closing market price after the IPO and the post-issue number of shares
outstanding.

Average Average 3-year Buy-and-hold Return

Number First-day Market- Style-
Sector of IPOs Return IPOs adjusted adjusted
Auction IPOs 23 12.9% 89.9% 81.2% 15.0%
Direct Listings 13 6.3% -12.2% -37.7% -22.4%

All 36 10.5% 53.1% 38.3% 2.2%

6 of the 23 auction IPOs had 3-year buy-and-hold returns of at least 150%. The style-adjusted
return for the auction IPOs is much lower than the market-adjusted return because two of the
matching firms had 3-year buy-and-hold returns of over 700%. The low average 3-year buy-and-
hold return for direct listings is partly due to the -99.7% return through the end of 2023 on
marijuana grower Bright Green Corp., which went public in May 2022 at a valuation at the first
closing price of over $4 billion, in spite of having no revenue.

48
 Table 14 (updated January 7, 2025)

The Market Share of Foreign Companies among U.S. IPOs, 1980-2024

This table includes American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) as well as other IPOs, and so has a
higher total number of U.S. IPOs. I continue to exclude IPOs with an offer price below $5.00 per
share, unit offers, SPACs, REITs, closed-end funds, natural resource limited partnerships, small
best efforts IPOs, banks and S&Ls, and IPOs not listed on CRSP (this last screen limits the sample
to NASDAQ, Amex, and NYSE-listed issues) within six months of the offer date. Bermuda-
domiciled companies are included as foreign, irrespective of the main country of operations.
Bermuda, Canada, China, Greece, Israel, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom are the most
common countries for IPOs that list in the U.S. Dealogic is the main source of information on
foreign IPOs, because other databases frequently classify a follow-on offering that simultaneously
includes a U.S. listing as an IPO, as does the NYSE. I have deleted these listings (a list of more
than 110 of them can be found in “SDC Corrections” on my IPO Data page) from the IPO counts
when I have been able to identify them. The count for Chinese IPOs does not include those from
Hong Kong and excludes “reverse mergers” and best efforts IPOs. There are six bank IPOs of
ADRs that are counted (1 in 1988, 1 in 1993, 2 in 1994, and 2 in 2009). There were 4 additional
foreign issues in 1981, but they did not get listed on CRSP until more than six months after the
IPO.

There ae 9 unit ADRs (2 in 1993, and 1 each in 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 2009, 2010, and 2023)
that are included.

For the column “Mean IR%” (Mean percentage initial return, measured from the offer price to the
first-day close), market prices are missing for 11 of the 583 ADRs.

In addition to the IPOs listed in this table, there have been more than fifty Chinese IPOs with an
offer price of below $5.00 per share, plus some unit offers. Some of these deals were best efforts
offerings. Those with an offer price below $5 per share include the following (these deals raised
a median of less than $10 million):

2007 2
2008 1
2009 2
2010 4
2015 1
2016 1
2017 2 + 2 best efforts offers
2018 3
2019 4
2020 3
2021 6
2022 3
2023 9
2024 21 (including 1 ADR) + 22 from Hong Kong

49
 IPOs including ADRs Foreign % Chinese %
Year Number Mean IR % Domestic Total ADRs Foreign Total ADRs Chinese
1980 71 14.3% 70 1 0 1.4% 0 0 0%
1981 193 5.9% 192 1 0 0.5% 0 0 0%
1982 78 10.9% 76 2 1 2.6% 0 0 0%
1983 453 9.9% 446 7 2 1.5% 0 0 0%
1984 175 3.8% 168 7 5 4.0% 0 0 0%
1985 186 6.4% 183 3 0 1.6% 0 0 0%
1986 394 6.1% 392 2 1 0.5% 0 0 0%
1987 285 5.6% 281 4 0 1.4% 0 0 0%
1988 109 5.4% 100 9 5 8.3% 0 0 0%
1989 119 8.0% 110 9 3 7.6% 0 0 0%
1990 111 10.7% 107 4 1 3.6% 0 0 0%
1991 288 11.9% 278 10 2 3.5% 0 0 0%
1992 416 10.2% 393 23 4 5.5% 0 0 0%
1993 527 12.5% 487 39 19 7.6% 1 1 0.2%
1994 420 9.5% 385 33 22 8.3% 3 2 0.7%
1995 477 20.9% 436 41 16 8.6% 1 1 0.2%
1996 710 16.9% 646 64 33 9.0% 1 1 0.1%
1997 504 13.7% 430 74 34 14.7% 4 3 0.8%
1998 294 21.7% 256 38 13 12.9% 2 1 0.7%
1999 501 69.7% 450 51 26 10.2% 1 0 0.2%
2000 418 55.4% 336 82 40 19.6% 7 4 1.7%
2001 83 13.8% 74 9 4 10.8% 2 2 2.4%
2002 68 9.0% 63 5 2 7.4% 1 1 1.5%
2003 66 13.0% 60 6 3 9.1% 2 2 3.0%
2004 189 11.9% 160 28 16 15.3% 9 9 4.8%
2005 172 11.7% 142 30 13 17.4% 8 8 4.7%
2006 172 12.5% 138 34 15 19.8% 9 7 5.2%
2007 190 14.4% 138 52 31 27.4% 29 27 15.3%
2008 24 4.3% 18 6 3 25.0% 3 3 16.7%
2009 49 8.8% 38 11 8 22.4% 10 7 20.4%
2010 125 12.2% 80 45 34 36.0% 33 32 26.4%
2011 93 13.3% 70 23 12 24.7% 13 11 14.0%
2012 97 17.2% 85 12 4 12.4% 2 2 2.1%
2013 168 22.3% 140 28 10 16.8% 8 6 4.8%
2014 225 14.8% 176 49 19 21.8% 14 14 6.2%
2015 126 18.7% 104 22 8 17.5% 5 4 4.0%
2016 83 14.1% 68 15 9 18.1% 6 6 7.2%
2017 125 13.6% 94 31 20 24.8% 16 15 12.8%
2018 166 17.1% 119 47 32 28.3% 28 27 16.9%
2019 138 19.8% 100 38 27 27.5% 23 20 16.7%
2020 198 38.3% 147 50 32 25.8% 29 25 15.2%
2021 347 31.0% 263 84 36 24.2% 30 21 8.6%
2022 43 54.5% 27 16 5 37.2% 5 4 11.6%
2023 67 9.8% 39 28 13 41.8% 13 8 19.4%
2024 80 14.2% 56 24 8 30.0% 9 6 11.3%

1980-2024 9,823 18.8% 8,621 1,197 591 12.2% 327 280 3.3%

50
 Table 15 (updated January 9, 2025)

How Many IPOs Are There?

The net number of IPOs excludes Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs), closed-end
funds, Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs), unit offers (typically composed of a share plus a
warrant to buy a share), IPOs with an offer price of less than $5.00, commercial banks and savings
and loans S&Ls), companies not promptly listed on the Amex, NYSE, or Nasdaq, master limited
partnerships (partnerships of natural resource companies, but not private equity firms such as
Carlyle), small best efforts offers (included in the other exclusions column), and foreign companies
issuing American Depositary Receipts (6 of which are banks). 11 ADRs are missing a first-day
return, and the “including ADRs” averages exclude them. SPACs that are unit offers are classified
as SPACs rather than units. No CRSP listing refers to IPOs not listed on CRSP within six months
of the IPO. CRSP covers stocks listed on Nasdaq, the NYSE, and the NYSE MKT (the Amex prior
to May 10, 2012).

Some IPOs are excluded for multiple reasons. For example, some bank and S&L IPOs are also
excluded due to not being listed on CRSP. The bank and S&L count includes all of them (other
than ADRs).

In 2024, there are 2 out of 10 ADRs that are also penny stocks (IPOs with an offer price of below
$5).

51
 Table 15
Number CEFs, Units and No CRSP
of IPOs SPACs, penny Banks listing or
Year Gross Net and REITs stocks LPs and S&Ls others ADRs
1980 234 71 1 56 0 0 106 0
1981 439 192 0 103 0 0 144 0
1982 198 77 1 14 0 3 102 1
1983 850 451 1 168 0 75 152 3
1984 518 171 4 139 1 47 150 6
1985 326 186 16 102 6 43 0 0
1986 710 393 28 183 20 100 0 1
1987 531 285 36 131 15 57 7 0
1988 293 105 74 88 3 30 0 5
1989 254 116 46 83 2 11 0 3
1990 213 110 43 55 1 7 0 1
1991 408 286 45 65 2 7 2 2
1992 602 412 105 80 1 4 0 5
1993 772 510 175 93 3 17 0 17
1994 594 402 85 106 3 10 0 19
1995 574 462 11 77 2 3 4 16
1996 845 677 15 104 5 15 0 34
1997 601 474 30 63 1 15 0 34
1998 379 283 39 20 2 33 0 13
1999 565 476 37 18 3 12 0 26
2000 431 380 2 8 0 4 0 40
2001 130 80 38 5 4 0 0 4
2002 157 66 81 2 6 4 0 2
2003 131 63 57 5 0 5 0 3
2004 304 173 95 5 5 8 2 16
2005 283 159 88 4 9 8 2 13
2006 261 157 62 5 18 5 0 15
2007 326 159 116 4 14 1 1 31
2008 53 21 22 3 4 0 0 3
2009 80 41 22 3 0 2 2 10
2010 198 91 37 9 7 11 7 36
2011 178 81 50 5 18 12 0 12
2012 175 93 46 4 16 11 0 5
2013 255 158 58 3 19 5 2 10
2014 305 206 30 10 20 19 1 19
2015 183 118 35 4 9 7 2 8
2016 113 75 18 4 1 4 2 9
2017 202 106 52 3 5 11 5 20
2018 243 134 52 9 1 9 6 32
2019 228 112 67 6 1 7 8 27
2020 465 165 257 7 0 0 4 32
2021 1,026 311 628 34 0 11 8 36
2022 175 38 91 39 0 3 2 5
2023 153 54 31 47 1 3 2 13
2024 221 72 60 77 0 2 0 10
Total 16,182 9,253 2,887 2,053 228 641 723 597

52
 Table 15a (updated January 9, 2025)
IPO Volume and Average First-day Returns with Banks, LPs, and ADRs Included

In the last two columns of the table, the net number of IPOs is expanded to include LPs, banks and S&Ls, and
ADRs. Only CRSP-listed IPOs that have first-day return information are included, and therefore the number of
IPOs added is slightly less for many years than if the “net” IPO count is added to the LP count, the bank and S&L
count, and the ADR count. CRSP covers IPOs that are listed on Nasdaq, NYSE, and NYSE Market (formerly
Amex). If a stock takes more than six months before CRSP-listing, it is not included in the count. The sample
size of 16,179 IPOs from 1980-2024 includes the 9,253 operating company IPOs from 1980-2024 used in most
tables, plus many penny stock IPOs and unit offers, 576 ADRs with a first-day return, 229 natural resource
industry limited partnerships, and 580 bank and S&L IPOs (6 of which are ADRs). There are also 14 ADRs with
a missing first-day close (1 in 1986, 2 in 1988, 2 in 1989, 2 in 1992, 2 in 1993, 3 in 1994, 1 in 1995, 1 in 1997).
For 2024, the sum of ADRs, Banks, LPs, and the other 72 operating companies is reduced because of a bank best
efforts offer and 2 penny stock ADRs.
As with Table 15, the net number of IPOs in the first column excludes Special Purpose Acquisition Companies
(SPACs), closed-end funds (not including interval funds), Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs), unit offers
(typically composed of a share plus a warrant to buy a share), IPOs with an offer price of less than $5.00,
commercial banks and savings and loans, companies not promptly listed on the Amex, NYSE, or Nasdaq, natural
resource master limited partnerships, small best efforts offers (included in the other exclusions column), and
foreign companies issuing American Depositary Receipts (6 of which are banks). SPACs that are unit offers are
classified as SPACs rather than units.
Table 15a also differs from Table 15 in that the category of SPACs, closed-end funds, and REITs in Table 15 is
decomposed into the three component parts. Blind pool offerings from the pre-2004 era were previously not
included as SPACs, but I have recently added those from 1988-1997. These blind-pool offers are almost always
screened out of the net number of offerings because they are either unit offers, penny stocks (offer price below
$5 per share), small best efforts deals, or were not CRSP-listed. The remaining blind pool offers are excluded in
the “other reasons” category. A typical blind pool offering raised a few million dollars and investors never
received anything in return.
The average first-day return on 580 bank and S&L IPOs is 6.1%, with a range of -20% to +57.5%. In most of my
tables, I exclude Bank and S&L IPOs because, among other reasons, it is not always clear how many shares are
sold to the general public versus sold to depositors and employees, since most of these offerings are
demutualizations. Many bank demutualizations use best efforts offerings, and in most years I exclude these 200+
IPOs. The same can be said of some insurance IPOs, which I include.
The average first-day return on 570 ADR IPOs with a closing market price, including banks but excluding 6
penny stocks, is 17.0%, with a range of -37.2% to 414.3%, with the 2000 internet company Crayfish Co. Ltd IPO
having the highest return, at 414.3%. In most of my tables, I exclude ADRs because, among other reasons, the
accounting data is not always reliable (SDC sometimes makes translation mistakes) and the U.S. tranche may be
a small part of a larger offering, especially in the home country of the company.
The average first-day return on 228 limited partnerships is 3.7%, with a range of -6.8% to +33.3%. In most of my
tables, I exclude natural resource company limited partnerships because it if frequently difficult to discern the
founding date of the underlying business, since most of these IPOs are spinoffs partly motivated by tax
minimization strategies. Also, most of these LPs are created at the time of the IPO, and identifying whether the
LP is profitable, what its trailing sales are, and what its assets are, is sometimes problematic. The same can be
said of rollups, which I include. I also include newly created reinsurance companies.

53
 Table 15a
Number of CEFs, Closed SPACs Banks Including LPs,
IPOs SPACs, and -end Non- and Banks, & ADRs
Year Gross Net REITs funds REITs unit Unit LPs S&Ls No. Mean IR

1980 234 71 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 71 14.3%

1981 439 192 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 192 5.9%
1982 198 77 1 0 1 0 0 0 3 80 10.5%
1983 850 451 1 0 1 0 0 0 75 523 8.9%
1984 518 171 4 0 4 0 0 1 47 220 3.1%
1985 326 186 16 1 15 0 0 6 43 223 6.4%
1986 710 393 28 25 3 0 0 20 100 497 5.9%
1987 531 285 36 32 4 0 0 15 57 349 5.5%
1988 293 105 74 65 8 0 1 3 30 136 5.3%
1989 254 116 46 46 0 0 0 2 11 128 7.7%
1990 213 110 43 42 0 0 1 1 7 118 10.3%
1991 408 286 45 42 2 0 1 2 7 295 11.8%
1992 602 412 105 98 5 0 2 1 4 420 10.1%
1993 772 510 175 121 46 0 8 3 17 546 12.4%
1994 594 402 85 37 41 0 7 3 10 432 9.4%
1995 574 462 11 2 7 0 2 2 3 483 20.8%
1996 845 677 15 5 6 0 4 5 15 727 16.7%
1997 601 474 30 7 22 0 1 1 15 517 13.6%
1998 379 283 39 24 15 0 0 2 33 323 20.6%
1999 565 476 37 35 2 0 0 3 12 512 68.3%
2000 431 380 2 2 0 0 0 0 4 420 55.1%
2001 130 80 38 38 0 0 0 4 0 86 13.6%
2002 157 66 81 77 4 0 0 6 4 77 7.8%
2003 131 63 57 49 7 0 1 0 5 71 13.1%
2004 304 173 95 55 28 0 12 5 8 201 11.9%
2005 283 159 89 50 11 4 24 9 8 189 11.5%
2006 261 157 62 22 5 0 35 18 5 195 11.4%
2007 326 159 116 47 4 0 65 14 1 205 14.0%
2008 53 21 22 3 2 0 17 4 0 28 4.1%
2009 80 41 22 13 9 0 0 0 2 50 9.6%
2010 198 91 37 22 8 0 7 7 11 139 11.5%
2011 178 81 50 25 9 0 16 18 12 112 11.6%
2012 175 93 46 28 9 1 8 16 11 122 15.8%
2013 255 158 58 28 20 3 7 19 5 192 20.1%
2014 305 206 30 13 6 0 11 20 19 261 14.2%
2015 183 118 35 8 7 1 19 9 7 142 17.4%
2016 113 75 18 2 3 0 13 1 4 89 13.6%
2017 202 106 52 9 9 0 34 5 11 141 12.7%
2018 243 134 52 1 5 0 46 1 9 176 16.4%
2019 228 113 67 6 2 0 59 1 7 146 19.0%
2020 465 165 257 5 4 11 237 0 0 197 38.3%
2021 1,026 311 628 10 5 33 580 0 11 349 30.7%
2022 175 38 91 4 1 0 86 0 3 46 50.1%
2023 153 54 31 0 0 0 31 1 3 71 9.7%
2024 221 72 60 0 3 3 54 0 2 81 14.0%
Total 16,182 9,253 2,887 1,099 344 56 1,389 227 641 10,578 17.9%

54
 Table 15b (updated January 1, 2025)

Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) IPOs, 1990-2024

IR is the initial return, measured from the offer price to the first close. Proceeds are in billions and do not include
overallotment shares. For 1990-1997 and 2004-2007, 50 of the initial returns are missing for SPAC OTC issues. For
SPACs from before 2010, data has been provided by Tim Jenkinson, Andrew Karolyi, and Milos Vulanovic. SPAC
Research, Gritstone Asset Management, and Dealogic have been used as data sources for SPACs in 2015-2023. For 1990-
2022, LSEG (SDC) misclassifies over 140 SPAC IPOs, usually as closed-end funds (SIC 6726).

Operating Company IPOs SPAC IPOs SPAC IPOs

Year Number Mean IR Non-unit Unit Total Proceeds, $b Mean IR

1990 110 10.8% 0 1 1 $0.003

1991 286 11.9% 0 1 1 $0.015
1992 412 10.3% 0 2 2 $0.030
1993 510 12.7% 0 8 8 $0.086
1994 402 9.6% 0 7 7 $0.086
1995 462 21.4% 0 2 2 $0.018
1996 677 17.2% 0 4 4 $0.032
1997 474 14.0% 0 1 1 $0.018
1998 283 21.9% 0 0 0
1999 476 71.2% 0 0 0
2000 380 56.3% 0 0 0
2001 80 14.0% 0 0 0
2002 66 9.1% 0 0 0
2003 63 11.7% 0 1 1 $0.024 0.9%
2004 173 12.3% 0 12 12 $0.425 0.8%
2005 159 10.3% 4 24 28 $1.846 1.9%
2006 157 12.1% 0 35 35 $3.013 3.2%
2007 159 14.0% 0 65 65 $10.985 0.7%
2008 21 5.7% 0 17 17 $3.627 0.2%
2009 41 9.8% 0 0 0 0
2010 91 9.4% 0 7 7 $0.513 -1.5%
2011 81 13.9% 0 16 16 $1.049 0.4%
2012 93 17.7% 1 8 9 $0.475 0.0%
2013 158 20.9% 3 7 10 $1.33 0.2%
2014 206 15.5% 0 11 11 $1.56 -0.1%
2015 118 19.2% 1 19 20 $3.62 0.4%
2016 75 14.5% 0 13 13 $3.22 0.3%
2017 106 12.9% 0 34 34 $9.00 0.7%
2018 134 18.6% 0 46 46 $9.94 0.4%
2019 113 23.5% 0 59 59 $12.12 0.6%
2020 165 41.6% 11 237 248 $75.34 1.6%
2021 311 32.0% 33 580 613 $144.53 1.9%
2022 38 48.9% 0 86 86 $12.08 0.1%
2023 54 11.9% 0 31 31 $3.19 1.2%
2024 72 15.3% 3 54 57 $8.67 0.1%
Total 7,206 22.2% 56 1,387 1,443 $306.9 1.2%

55
 SPAC IPOs by Quarter
Number Mean IR Number Mean IR
1Q 21 298 3.7% 1Q22 54 0.0%
2Q 21 60 0.3% 2Q22 16 0.2%
3Q 21 89 -0.2% 3Q22 8 0.0%
4Q 21 166 0.5% 4Q22 8 0.5%

1Q 23 11 1.6% 1Q 24 6 1.0%
2Q 23 6 1.1% 2Q 24 10 0.3%
3Q 23 5 1.2% 3Q 24 18 -0.1%
4Q 23 9 0.9% 4Q 24 23 -0.1%

56
 Table 15c (May 10, 2024)
Post-merger Returns on deSPACs, 2012-2022

This table is an updated version of Table 4 in “SPACs” by Minmo Gahng, Jay R. Ritter, and Donghang
Zhang, published in the Sept. 2023 Review of Financial Studies. The table reports average equally weighted
deSPAC period common share percentage returns based on a buy-and-hold strategy (Equation (3)) in which
an investor purchases common shares of a merged company at the close of the first day of trading as a new
entity (the deSPAC) and holds them for 1 or 3 years. The year column represents the year of the merger.
The sample consists of 447 business combinations consummated between January 2010 and December
2022, after excluding a few deSPACs that were listed OTC rather than on Nasdaq or the NYSE. Returns
include dividend yields and capital gains. When the full 1- or 3-year data are not available, we calculate the
returns based on available data. For example, if a merged company started to trade in March 2020 and
delisted in August 2020, we report the buy-and-hold returns from March 2020 to August 2020 for both one-
year and three-year returns (not annualized). Returns end on December 29, 2023, a Friday. The CRSP return
is the total return on the CRSP value-weighted market index, matched to each investment period.

For 2021 and 2022, the 3-year returns are for less than 3 years. In 2021, GNRS is not included because this
deSPAC was traded OTC. For 2022, MLEC is not included because the deSPAC occurred on the last trading
day of the year. Guilherme Junqueira assisted in the update of this table. It should be noted that if there is
a high redemption rate, the public float after the deSPAC can be quite low until shares that were locked up
become available for trading. For 2023, returns are measured from an assumed $10 price to the Dec. 29,
2023 split-adjusted close. For two deSPACs in 2023, the market price is multiplied by 1.4 due to bonus
shares given to non-redeeming shareholders. The return for a deSPAC on Dec. 29, 2023 is not included.

The equally weighted average deSPAC return would be similar if a purchase price of $10 was used, since
the average first closing deSPAC price is close to $10. The average deSPAC return would be higher,
however, if a public cash-weighted return was reported, because it tends to be the case that deSPACs with
high redemption rates (low public cash) have worse subsequent returns. Also, some deSPACs involve side
payments to non-redeeming shareholders, for instance giving 0.5 sponsor shares to each non-redeeming
shareholder. For these shareholders, the effective purchase price is thus approximately $6.67 rather than
$10.00, so their returns would be higher if the deSPAC return accounted for the side payment. If these
shares were sold on the first day of deSPAC trading, however, the computations would not be affected.

Average 1-year Return Average 3-year Buy-and-hold Return

Year Number deSPACs Market Mkt-adjusted deSPACs Market Mkt-adjusted

2012 1 -53.2% 20.4% -73.6% -98.1% 37.2% -135.3%

2013 5 -30.1% 17.9% -48.0% -41.1% 28.0% -69.1%
2014 4 -51.6% 5.7% -57.3% -89.6% 26.7% -116.2%
2015 9 -19.5% 0.7% -20.2% 87.7% 33.1% 54.6%
2016 9 -5.2% 19.0% -24.2% -35.1% 40.3% -75.3%
2017 13 -11.0% 11.7% -22.6% -44.5% 30.3% -74.7%
2018 23 -35.0% 8.8% -43.8% -8.1% 51.7% -59.8%
2019 25 2.0% 8.8% -6.8% -25.0% 10.1% -35.1%
2020 63 -3.0% 32.6% -35.6% -56.0% 28.6% -84.6%
2021 198 -64.2% -10.3% -53.9% -73.0% 7.0% -80.0%
2022 101 -63.8% 5.0% -68.8% -63.8% 16.9% -80.7%
2023 98 -59.1%
2024

2012-2022 451 -46.3% 3.1% -49.4% -57.7% 17.0% -74.7%

57
 Table 16 (updated April 11, 2024)

Long-run Returns on IPOs Categorized by the Pre-issue Sales of the Firm, 1980-2022

All Last Twelve Months (LTM) sales figures for the firms going public have been converted into
dollars of January 2024 purchasing power using the Consumer Price Index. 9,127 IPOs from 1980-
2022 are used, with returns calculated through the end of December 2023. IPOs with an offer price
below $5.00 per share, unit offers, ADRs, REITs, closed end funds, natural resource partnerships,
banks and S&Ls, small best efforts offers, and IPOs not listed on CRSP within six months of the
offer date are excluded. mm is millions of dollars. Buy-and-hold returns are calculated until the
earlier of the three-year anniversary or the delisting date (no later than Dec. 29 of 2023 for IPOs
from 2021 and 2022). Market-adjusted returns use the CRSP value-weighted index. Style
adjustments use firms matched by market cap and book-to-market ratio with at least five years of
CRSP listing and no follow-on equity issues in the prior five years. Specifically, the firm with the
closest book-to-market ratio within the size decile of the IPO is used for the matching firm. For
post-issue book value of equity numbers, I use the post-issue common equity numbers from SDC
with corrections by checking the prospectus, and for the remaining missing numbers I use the
equity book values reported for the nearest quarter after the IPO on COMPUSTAT, and further
missing numbers are calculated using the reported pre-IPO equity book values plus the amount of
the proceeds (assuming that overallotment option shares and costs of issuing offset each other)
times the fraction of the primary shares. For dual-class shares, the post-issue book-to-market ratio
is calculated using the larger of the post-issue number of shares reported from SDC (with
corrections to account for all share classes) and the total shares outstanding reported from CRSP
at end of the IPO date. Market capitalization (size) is calculated using the first closing market price
after the IPO and the post-issue number of shares outstanding. If a matching firm is delisted before
the IPO, it is assumed that the proceeds of the delisted firm are then invested in the next-best
matching firm at the time of the IPO. All returns include dividends and capital gains, including the
index returns.

Average Average 3-year Buy-and-hold Return

Number First-day
Sales (in 2023$) of IPOs Return IPOs Market-adjusted Style-adjusted

0-9.999 mm 1,713 23.9% -15.1% -50.0% -33.0%

10-19.999 mm 641 28.7% -0.7% -35.9% -18.4%
20-49.999 mm 1,390 24.5% 14.6% -28.0% -10.3%
50-99.999 mm 1,387 19.1% 26.9% -15.5% -3.3%
100-499.999 mm 2,558 15.0% 40.2% -1.1% 5.2%
500 mm and up 1,438 10.3% 30.9% -4.4% -3.8%

0-99.999 mm 5,131 23.4% 6.1% -33.0% -17.0%

100 mm and up 3,996 13.3% 36.9% -2.3% 1.9%

1980-2022 9,127 19.0% 19.6% -19.5% -8.7%

58
 Table 16a (updated April 11, 2024)

Long-run Returns on IPOs Categorized by the Pre-issue Sales of the Firm, 1980-2022

The caption to Table 16 describes the return calculations in more detail. The average 3-year buy-
and-hold returns are calculated starting at the closing market price on the first day of trading.

Average Average 3-year Buy-and-hold Return

Number First-day
Sales (in 2024$) of IPOs Return IPOs Market-adjusted Style-adjusted

Less than $1 billion 8,300 19.9% 18.3% -21.3% -9.7%

$1 billion and up 827 9.6% 32.1% -1.4% 1.3%

1980-2022 9,127 19.0% 19.6% -19.5% -8.7%

Note: For example, a -18.7% 3-year market-adjusted buy-and-hold return for all IPOs
corresponds to an annualized market-adjusted return of -5.0% per year, with an average holding
period of 2.8 years, because 1.196/1.383=0.865 (which is the wealth relative, or public market
equivalent), and 0.8650.357=0.950. The 38.3% buy-and-hold market return is 18.7% above the
19.6% average buy-and-hold return, and 0.357 is equal to 1/2.8. Alternatively stated,
underperformance of 5.0% per year for 2.8 years results in a wealth relative of 0.865.

59
 Table 16b (updated April 11, 2024)

Long-run Returns on IPOs Categorized by the Profitability of the Firm, 1980-2022

All Last Twelve Months (LTM) sales figures for the firms going public have been converted into
dollars of January 2024 purchasing power using the Consumer Price Index. 9,127 IPOs (including
the 2016 IPO of BATS Global Markets, which listed on BATS) from 1980-2022 are used, with
returns calculated through December 29, 2023. IPOs with an offer price below $5.00 per share,
unit offers, ADRs, REITs, closed end funds, natural resource partnerships, banks and S&Ls, small
best efforts offers, and IPOs not listed on CRSP within six months of the offer date are excluded.
Buy-and-hold returns are calculated from the first closing market price until the earlier of the three-
year anniversary or the delisting date (Dec. 29 of 2023 for IPOs from 2021 and 2022). Market-
adjusted returns use the CRSP value-weighted index. Style adjustments use firms matched by
market cap and book-to-market ratio with at least five years of CRSP listing and no follow-on
equity issues in the prior five years. The market-adjusted and style-adjusted returns are the average
buy-and-hold return on the IPOs minus the average compounded return on the benchmark. For
post-issue book value of equity numbers, I use the post-issue common equity numbers from SDC
with corrections by checking the prospectus, and for the remaining missing numbers I use the
equity book values reported for the nearest quarter after the IPO on COMPUSTAT, and further
missing numbers are calculated using the reported pre-IPO equity book values plus the amount of
the proceeds (assuming that overallotment option shares and costs of issuing offset each other)
times the fraction of the primary shares. For dual-class shares, the post-issue book-to-market ratio
is calculated using the larger of the post-issue number of shares reported from SDC (with
corrections to account for all share classes) and the total shares outstanding reported from CRSP
at end of the IPO date. Market capitalization (size) is calculated using the first closing market price
after the IPO and the post-issue number of shares outstanding. Earnings per share (EPS) is for the
pre-IPO last twelve months (LTM). All returns include dividends and capital gains, including the
index returns.

Average Average 3-year Buy-and-hold Return

Number First-day
Trailing LTM EPS of IPOs Return IPOs Market-adjusted Style-adjusted

Unprofitable 3,839 26.8% -0.3% -29.3% -22.8%

Profitable 5,288 13.3% 34.0% -12.4% 1.6%

Sales less than $100 million ($2024)

Unprofitable 2,832 29.7% -9.8% -39.3% -29.0%
Profitable 2,299 15.6% 25.8% -25.1% -2.2%
All less than $100m 5,131 23.4% 6.1% -33.0% -17.0%
Sales more than $100 million ($2024)
Unprofitable 1,007 18.4% 26.6% -1.0% -5.5%
Profitable 2,989 11.6% 40.3% -2.7% 4.4%
All more than $100m 3,996 13.3% 36.9% -2.3% 1.9%

1980-2022 9,127 19.0% 19.6% -19.5% -8.7%

60
 Table 16c (updated April 10, 2024)
Long-run Returns Measured from the Offer Price on Tech and non-Tech Stock IPOs
Excluding the Internet Bubble, 1980-2022
Panel A: IPOs from 1980-2022, excluding 1999-2000, categorized by industry
Average Average 3-year Buy-and-hold Return
Number First-day Market- Style-
Industry of IPOs Return IPOs adjusted adjusted
Tech 2,680 19.9% 73.6% 26.7% 46.3%
Non-Tech 5,591 11.5% 30.6% -14.0% -1.6%

All 8,271 14.3% 44.5% -0.8% 13.9%

Panel B: Categorized by sales and industry (sales in $2023)

Average Average 3-year Buy-and-hold Return
Number First-day Market- Style-
LTM Sales of IPOs Return IPOs adjusted adjusted
Sales < $100 million
Tech 1,789 20.0% 68.2% 16.8% 42.6%
Non-Tech 2,867 13.6% 15.6% -30.1% -11.3%
Sales> $100 million
Tech 891 19.8% 84.3% 46.4% 53.6%
Non-Tech 2,724 9.4% 46.4% 2.9% 8.7%

Panel C: Profitable issuers, categorized by sales and industry

Average Average 3-year Buy-and-hold Return
Number First-day Market- Style-
LTM Sales of IPOs Return IPOs adjusted adjusted
Sales < $100 million
Tech 978 17.6% 71.4% 16.0% 44.2%
Non-Tech 1,376 12.0% 28.9% -22.8% 0.6%
Sales> $100 million
Tech 502 16.4% 94.3% 48.8% 60.0%
Non-Tech 2,244 9.3% 48.8% 3.7% 11.0%

Panel D: Unprofitable issuers, categorized by sales and industry

Average Average 3-year Buy-and-hold Return
Number First-day Market- Style-
LTM Sales of IPOs Return IPOs adjusted adjusted
Sales < $100 million
Tech 811 22.9% 64.4% 17.9% 40.6%
Non-Tech 1,491 15.2% 3.4% -36.8% -22.4%
Sales> $100 million
Tech 389 24.2% 71.3% 43.2% 45.4%
Non-Tech 480 9.7% 35.2% -1.0% -2.1%

61
 Table 16d (updated April 10, 2024)
Long-run Returns Measured from the First Closing Market Price on Tech and non-Tech
Stock IPOs Excluding the Internet Bubble, 1980-2022
Panel A: IPOs from 1980-2022, excluding 1999-2000, categorized by industry
Average Average 3-year Buy-and-hold Return
Number First-day Market- Style-
Industry of IPOs Return IPOs adjusted adjusted
Tech 2,680 19.9% 42.5% -4.4% 15.2%
Non-Tech 5,591 11.5% 19.7% -24.9% -12.5%

All 8,271 14.3% 27.1% -18.3% -3.5%

Panel B: Categorized by sales and industry (sales in $2023)

Average Average 3-year Buy-and-hold Return
Number First-day Market- Style-
LTM Sales of IPOs Return IPOs adjusted adjusted
Sales < $100 million
Tech 1,789 20.0% 36.8% -14.6% 11.2%
Non-Tech 2,867 13.6% 5.6% -40.1% -21.4%
Sales> $100 million
Tech 891 19.8% 53.9% 16.0% 23.3%
Non-Tech 2,724 9.4% 34.6% -8.9% -3.1%

Panel C: Profitable issuers, categorized by sales and industry

Average Average 3-year Buy-and-hold Return
Number First-day Market- Style-
LTM Sales of IPOs Return IPOs adjusted adjusted
Sales < $100 million
Tech 978 17.6% 42.7% -12.8% 15.5%
Non-Tech 1,376 12.0% 18.3% -33.5% -10.0%
Sales> $100 million
Tech 502 16.4% 65.1% 19.6% 30.7%
Non-Tech 2,244 9.3% 36.7% -8.4% -1.1%

Panel D: Unprofitable issuers, categorized by sales and industry

Average Average 3-year Buy-and-hold Return
Number First-day Market- Style-
LTM Sales of IPOs Return IPOs adjusted adjusted
Sales < $100 million
Tech 811 22.9% 29.8% -16.7% 6.0%
Non-Tech 1,491 15.2% -6.1% -46.2% -31.9%
Sales> $100 million
Tech 389 24.2% 39.6% 11.5% 13.7%
Non-Tech 480 9.7% 25.0% -11.3% -12.4%

62
 Table 16e (April 26, 2024)
Distribution of 3-year and 5-year Buy-and-Hold Returns on IPOs, 1975-2020
8,883 IPOs from 1975-2020 are used, with buy-and-hold returns calculated until the earlier of the
3-year or 5-year anniversary or the delisting date. All returns include dividends and capital gains.
IPOs with an offer price below $5.00 per share, unit offers, ADRs, REITs, closed end funds,
SPACs, natural resource partnerships, banks and S&Ls, small best efforts offers, and IPOs not
listed on CRSP within six months of the offer date are excluded. The average first-day return in
Panel A is 18.2%, with an average 3-year buy-and-hold return (BHR) of 23.7%, measured from
the first close, and 41.3%, measured from the offer price. In Panel B, the average first-day return
is 12.9%, with a subsequent average 3-year buy-and-hold return of 41.7%, measured from the first
close, and 58.4%, measured from the offer price. Sales is inflation-adjusted sales for the last twelve
months (LTM) prior to the IPO, in dollars of January 2024 purchasing power using the CPI.
Panel A: All 8,883 IPOs
3-year buy-and-hold From the first close From the offer price
return Number of IPOs Percentage Number of IPOs Percentage
BHR<-50% 3,329 37.5% 3,028 34.1%
-50%<BHR≤0% 1,919 21.6% 1,866 21.0%
0%<BHR≤50% 1,309 14.7% 1,323 14.9%
50%<BHR≤100% 864 9.7% 903 10.2%
100%<BHR≤200% 751 8.5% 869 9.8%
200%<BHR≤500% 550 6.2% 674 7.6%
500%<BHR≤1,000% 122 1.4% 158 1.8%
1,000%<BHR≤2,000% 27 0.3% 45 0.5%
2,000%<BHR≤3,000% 6 0.1% 10 0.1%
3,000%<BHR 6 0.1% 7 0.1%

1975-2020 8,883 100.0% 8,883 100.0%

Panel B: 3,876 IPOs with LTM Sales of $100 million or more ($2024)
3-year buy-and-hold From the first close From the offer price
return Number of IPOs Percentage Number of IPOs Percentage
BHR<-50% 949 24.5% 838 21.6%
-50%<BHR≤0% 875 22.6% 822 21.2%
0%<BHR≤50% 744 19.2% 729 18.8%
50%<BHR≤100% 522 13.5% 530 13.7%
100%<BHR≤200% 441 11.4% 519 13.4%
200%<BHR≤500% 285 7.3% 358 9.2%
500%<BHR≤1,000% 50 1.3% 61 1.6%
1,000%<BHR≤2,000% 8 0.2% 14 0.4%
2,000%<BHR≤3,000% 1 0.0% 4 0.1%
3,000%<BHR 1 0.0% 1 0.0%

1975-2020 3,876 100.0% 3,876 100.0%

63
 Table 16e (continued)

The average first-day return in Panel C is 18.2%, with an average 5-year buy-and-hold return
(BHR) of 39.6%, measured from the first close, and 59.3%, measured from the offer price. In Panel
D, the average first-day return is 12.9%, with a subsequent average 5-year buy-and-hold return of
60.2%, measured from the first close, and 79.1%, measured from the offer price. Sales is inflation-
adjusted sales for the last twelve months (LTM) prior to the IPO, in dollars of January 2024
purchasing power using the CPI. For the 2019 and 2020 cohorts, returns are calculated through
Friday, Dec. 29, 2023 unless an IPO was delisted earlier. Columns may not add to 100% due to
rounding.

Panel C: All 8,883 IPOs from 1975-2020

5-year buy-and-hold From the first close From the offer price
return Number of IPOs Percentage Number of IPOs Percentage
BHR<-50% 3,710 41.8% 3,447 38.8%
-50%<BHR≤0% 1,598 18.0% 1,549 17.4%
0%<BHR≤50% 1,103 12.4% 1,108 12.5%
50%<BHR≤100% 740 8.3% 783 8.8%
100%<BHR≤200% 809 9.1% 870 9.8%
200%<BHR≤500% 642 7.2% 776 8.7%
500%<BHR≤1,000% 185 2.1% 224 2.5%
1,000%<BHR≤2,000% 73 0.8% 88 1.0%
2,000%<BHR≤3,000% 13 0.1% 25 0.3%
3,000%<BHR 10 0.1% 13 0.1%

1975-2020 8,883 100.0% 8,883 100.0%

Panel D: 3,876 IPOs with LTM Sales of $100 million or more ($2024)
5-year buy-and-hold From the first close From the offer price
return Number of IPOs Percentage Number of IPOs Percentage
BHR<-50% 1,105 28.5% 1,001 25.8%
-50%<BHR≤0% 759 19.6% 734 18.9%
0%<BHR≤50% 605 15.6% 586 15.1%
50%<BHR≤100% 447 11.5% 458 11.8%
100%<BHR≤200% 484 12.5% 507 13.1%
200%<BHR≤500% 352 9.1% 434 11.2%
500%<BHR≤1,000% 85 2.2% 104 2.7%
1,000%<BHR≤2,000% 34 0.9% 41 1.1%
2,000%<BHR≤3,000% 4 0.1% 9 0.2%
3,000%<BHR 1 0.0% 2 0.1%

1975-2020 3,876 100.0% 3,876 100.0%

64
 Table 16f (updated April 10, 2024)

Aftermarket Returns with and without Including the First-day Return

9,127 IPOs from 1980-2022 are used, with returns calculated through December 29, 2023. IPOs
with an offer price below $5.00 per share, unit offers, SPACs, ADRs, REITs, closed end funds,
natural resource partnerships, banks and S&Ls, small best efforts offers, and IPOs not listed on
CRSP within six months of the offer date are excluded. Buy-and-hold returns are calculated from
the first closing market price until the earlier of the three-year anniversary or the delisting date
(Dec. 29 of 2023 for IPOs from 2021 and 2022). Market-adjusted returns use the CRSP value-
weighted index. Style adjustments use firms matched by market cap and book-to-market ratio with
at least five years of CRSP listing and no follow-on equity issues in the prior five years. The
market-adjusted and style-adjusted returns are the average buy-and-hold return on the IPOs minus
the average compounded return on the benchmark. Further details are reported in the captions to
Tables 16a and 16b. Market capitalization (size) is calculated using the first closing market price
after the IPO and the post-issue number of shares outstanding.

Tables 16c and 16d report similar numbers, but those tables exclude IPOs from the internet bubble
years of 1999-2000.
Panel A:
Long-run Returns Measured from the Offer Price on Tech and non-Tech IPOs, 1980-2022

Average Average 3-year Buy-and-hold Return

Number First-day Market- Style-
Sector of IPOs Return IPOs adjusted adjusted
Tech 3,311 31.3% 50.2% 16.3% 28.2%
Non-Tech 5,816 12.0% 29.2% -12.9% -2.7%

All 9,127 19.0% 36.8% -2.3% 8.5%

Panel B:
Long-run Returns Measured from the First Close on Tech and non-Tech IPOs, 1980-2022

Average Average 3-year Buy-and-hold Return

Number First-day Market- Style-
Sector of IPOs Return IPOs adjusted adjusted
Tech 3,311 31.3% 21.9% -12.0% -0.2%
Non-Tech 5,816 12.0% 18.3% -23.8% -13.6%

All 9,127 19.0% 19.6% -19.5% -8.7%

65
 Table 17 (updated April 10, 2024)

Long-run Returns on IPOs Categorized by VC-backing or Buyout Fund-backing

All Last Twelve Months (LTM) sales figures for the firms going public have been converted into
dollars of January 2023 purchasing power using the Consumer Price Index. IPOs from 1980-2022
are used, with returns calculated through the end of December 2023. In Panel A, the sample size
is 9,127 firms. Growth capital-backed IPOs are included in the VC-backed category. IPOs with an
offer price below $5.00 per share, unit offers, small best efforts offerings, ADRs, REITs, closed-
end funds, natural resource limited partnerships, banks and S&Ls, and IPOs not listed on CRSP
within six months of the offer date are excluded. In Panel B, one additional screen is implemented,
reducing the sample size. This additional screen is that the last twelve months (LTM) sales of the
issuing firm is at least $50 million (2023 purchasing power). Buy-and-hold returns are calculated
from the first close until the earlier of the three-year anniversary or the delisting date (Dec. 29 of
2023 for IPOs from 2022). Market-adjusted returns use the CRSP value-weighted index. Style
adjustments use firms matched by market cap and book-to-market ratio with at least five years of
CRSP listing and no follow-on equity issues in the prior five years. All returns include dividends
and capital gains, including the index returns. Jerry Cao of Sun Yat-sen University has assisted in
providing data on the classification of IPOs as buyout-backed. Growth capital-backed IPOs are
classified as VC-backed.

Panel A: IPOs from 1980-2022 categorized by venture capital backing

Average Average 3-year Buy-and-hold Return

Number First-day
VC-backed or not of IPOs Return IPOs Market-adjusted Style-adjusted

VC-backed 3,673 27.2% 21.9% -12.5% -3.3%

NonVC-backed 5,454 13.5% 18.0% -24.2% -12.4%
NonVC and nonBuyout 4,224 14.6% 14.8% -31.1% -15.4%

1980-2022 9,127 19.0% 19.6% -19.5% -8.7%

Note: The nonVC- and nonBuyout-backed IPOs do not include a minimum sales screen, unlike in Panel B.

Panel B: IPOs with at least $50 million in LTM sales (2023 purchasing power)
from 1980-2022 categorized by private equity (buyout fund) backing

Average Average 3-year Buy-and-hold Return

Number First-day
Buyout-backed or not of IPOs Return IPOs Market-adjusted Style-adjusted

Buyout-backed 1,174 9.5% 30.3% -0.0% 1.0%

NonBuyout-backed 4,035 16.1% 36.6% -6.3% 1.1%

All 5,209 14.6% 35.2% -4.9% 1.1%

66
 Table 17a (updated April 10, 2024)

Long-run Returns on IPOs Categorized by VC-, Growth Capital-, or Buyout Fund-backing

9,127 IPOs from 1980-2022 are used, with returns calculated through the end of December 2023.
Buy-and-hold returns are calculated from the first closing price until the earlier of the three-year
anniversary or the delisting date (Friday, Dec. 29 of 2023 for IPOs from 2021 and 2022). Market-
adjusted returns use the CRSP value-weighted index. All returns include dividends and capital
gains. Style adjustments use firms matched by market cap and book-to-market ratio with at least
five years of CRSP listing and no follow-on equity issues in the prior five years. This table is an
updated version of Table 3 of my “Growth Capital-backed IPOs” published in the 2015 Financial
Review. Growth capital-backed IPOs are defined to be IPOs with a financial sponsor that is
financing investments in tangible assets and/or acquisitions are a major part of its growth strategy.
Buyouts involve the financial sponsor taking control by buying out prior shareholders. Corporate
venture capital and angel investors are not included as financial sponsors.

Average Average 3-year Buy-and-hold Return

Number First-day Market- Style-
of IPOs Return IPOs adjusted adjusted

VC-backed 3,209 29.0% 18.9% -14.3% -4.3%

Growth capital-backed 464 14.4% 42.7% -0.4% 3.6%
Buyout-backed 1,230 9.5% 29.3% -0.8% -2.0%

Financial Sponsored 4,903 22.7% 23.7% -9.6% -3.0%

Non-Financial Sponsored 4,224 14.6% 14.8% -31.1% -15.4%

All 9,127 19.0% 19.6% -19.5% -8.7%

Note: The high average 3-year buy-and-hold return for growth capital-backed IPOs is partly attributable, in a
mechanical sense, to the six IPOs with the highest buy-and-hold returns in this subsample: The May 10, 1984 IPO of
restaurant chain This Can’t Be Yogurt (4,076.6%); the April 10, 1997 IPO of middleware software developer and
distributor BEA Systems (2,562.2%); the November 15, 1989 IPO of original equipment manufacturer Solectron
(944.0%); the April 24, 1996 IPO of outdoor advertising (billboards) operator Outdoor Systems (935.1%); the
February 9, 1983 IPO of health care provider United States Health Care (636.6%); and the September 19, 1989 IPO
of health care provider Vencor (635.8%).

67
 Table 18 (updated April 10, 2024)

Long-run Returns on IPOs Categorized by VC-backing, by Subperiod

The sample is composed of 9,127 IPOs from 1980-2022, with returns calculated through the end
of December 2023. Growth capital-backed IPOs are classified as venture capital (VC)-backed in
all panels. IPOs with an offer price below $5.00 per share, unit offers, small best efforts offerings,
ADRs, REITs, closed end funds, SPACs, natural resource limited partnerships, banks and S&Ls,
and IPOs not listed on CRSP within six months of the offer date are excluded. Buy-and-hold
returns are calculated from the first closing market price until the earlier of the three-year
anniversary or the delisting date (Dec. 29 of 2023 for IPOs from 2021 and 2022). Market-adjusted
returns use the CRSP value-weighted index. All returns include dividends and capital gains. Style
adjustments use firms matched by market cap and book-to-market ratio with at least five years of
CRSP listing and no follow-on equity issues in the prior five years. Market capitalization (size) is
calculated using the first closing market price after the IPO. All returns include dividends and
capital gains, including the index returns.

Panel A: IPOs from 1980-2022 categorized by venture capital backing

Average Average 3-year Buy-and-hold Return

Number First-day Market- Style-
VC-backed or not of IPOs Return IPOs adjusted adjusted

VC-backed 3,673 27.2% 21.9% -12.5% -3.3%

NonVC-backed 5,454 13.5% 18.0% -24.2% -12.4%

All 9,127 19.0% 19.6% -19.5% -8.7%

68
 Panel B: IPOs from 1980-1989

Average Average 3-year Buy-and-hold Return

Number First-day Market- Style-
VC-backed or not of IPOs Return IPOs adjusted adjusted

VC-backed 513 8.6% 31.9% -14.0% 14.0%

NonVC-backed 1,534 6.8% 19.3% -25.5% -1.8%

All 2,047 7.2% 22.5% -22.6% 2.2%

Panel C: IPOs from 1990-1998

Average Average 3-year Buy-and-hold Return

Number First-day Market- Style-
VC-backed or not of IPOs Return IPOs adjusted adjusted

VC-backed 1,266 17.3% 60.7% -1.1% 27.0%

NonVC-backed 2,350 13.5% 28.4% -31.7% -14.8%

All 3,616 14.8% 39.7% -21.0% -0.2%

Panel D: IPOs from 1999-2000

Average Average 3-year Buy-and-hold Return

Number First-day Market- Style-
VC-backed or not of IPOs Return IPOs adjusted adjusted

VC-backed 525 80.9% -62.3% -40.5% -62.5%

NonVC-backed 331 38.7% -38.6% -17.9% -53.3%

All 856 64.6% -53.1% -31.8% -58.9%

Panel E: IPOs from 2001-2022

Average Average 3-year Buy-and-hold Return

Number First-day Market- Style-
VC-backed or not of IPOs Return IPOs adjusted adjusted

VC-backed 1,369 22.6% 14.5% -11.8% -15.0%

NonVC-backed 1,239 15.0% 11.8% -10.2% -9.9%

All 2,608 19.0% 13.2% -11.0% -12.6%

69
 Table 18a (updated April 10, 2024)
Long-run Returns on IPOs Categorized by VC-backing and Real Sales
The sample is composed of 9,127 IPOs from 1980-2022, with returns calculated through the end of
December 2023. IPOs with an offer price below $5.00 per share, unit offers, small best efforts offerings,
ADRs, REITs, closed end funds, SPACs, natural resource limited partnerships, banks and S&Ls, and IPOs
not listed on CRSP within six months of the offer date are excluded. Buy-and-hold returns are calculated
from the first closing market price in Panels A and B, and from the offer price in Panels C and D, until the
earlier of the three-year anniversary or the delisting date (Dec. 29 of 2023 for IPOs from 2021 and 2022).
Market-adjusted returns use the CRSP value-weighted index. Style adjustments use firms matched by
market cap and book-to-market ratio with at least five years of CRSP listing and no follow-on equity issues
in the prior five years. Sales are the trailing twelve month revenues listed in the IPO prospectus, measured
in terms of dollars of January 2023 purchasing power using the CPI.

Panel A: IPOs with Sales<$100 million from 1980-2022 categorized by VC-backing

Average Average 3-year Buy-and-hold Return
Number First-day Market- Style-
VC-backed or not of IPOs Return IPOs adjusted adjusted
VC-backed 2,724 28.8% 12.4% -20.9% -8.3%
NonVC-backed 2,599 17.3% 1.8% -43.6% -24.4%

All 5,323 23.2% 7.2% -32.0% -16.2%

Panel B: IPOs with Sales>$100 million from 1980-2022 categorized by VC-backing

Average Average 3-year Buy-and-hold Return
Number First-day Market- Style-
VC-backed or not of IPOs Return IPOs adjusted adjusted
VC-backed 949 22.5% 49.2% 11.5% 11.1%
NonVC-backed 2,855 10.0% 32.8% -6.6% -1.4%

All 3,804 13.1% 36.9% -2.1% 1.7%

Panel C: IPOs with Sales<$100 million, with returns measured from the offer price
Average Average 3-year Buy-and-hold Return
Number First-day Market- Style-
VC-backed or not of IPOs Return IPOs adjusted adjusted
VC-backed 2,724 28.8% 34.8% 1.6% 14.2%
NonVC-backed 2,599 17.3% 14.6% -30.8% -11.6%

All 5,323 23.2% 25.0% -14.2% 1.6%

Panel D: IPOs with Sales>$100 million, with returns measured from the offer price
Average Average 3-year Buy-and-hold Return
Number First-day Market- Style-
VC-backed or not of IPOs Return IPOs adjusted adjusted
VC-backed 949 22.5% 79.9% 42.2% 41.8%
NonVC-backed 2,855 10.0% 44.6% 5.2% 10.4%

All 3,804 13.1% 53.4% 14.4% 18.2%

70
 Table 18b (updated October 21, 2024)

Long-run Returns on VC-backed and other IPOs Segmented by Industry, 1980-2022

This table appears as Table 7 in “Going Public with IPOs and SPAC Mergers” by Rongbing
Huang, Jay R. Ritter, and Donghang Zhang, forthcoming in Research Handbook on the Structure
of Private Equity and Venture Capital. 9,127 IPOs from 1980-2022 are used, with returns
calculated through December 29, 2023. IPOs with an offer price below $5.00 per share, unit offers,
SPACs, ADRs, REITs, closed end funds, natural resource partnerships, banks and S&Ls, small
best efforts offers, and IPOs not listed on CRSP within six months of the offer date are excluded.
Buy-and-hold returns are calculated from the first closing market price until the earlier of the three-
year anniversary or the delisting date (Dec. 29 of 2023 for IPOs from 2021 and 2022). The captions
to Tables 2 and 6 provide industry classification details. Market-adjusted returns use the CRSP
value-weighted index. Style adjustments use firms matched by market cap and book-to-market
ratio with at least five years of CRSP listing and no follow-on equity issues in the prior five years.
The market-adjusted and style-adjusted returns are the average buy-and-hold return on the IPOs
minus the average compounded return on the benchmark. Market capitalization (size) is calculated
using the first closing market price after the IPO and the post-issue number of shares outstanding.
Panel A: Long-run Returns on VC-backed IPOs, by Industry, 1980-2022
Average Average 3-year Buy-and-hold Return
Number First-day Market- Style-
Sector of IPOs Return IPOs adjusted adjusted
Tech 1,992 37.3% 26.4% -4.4% 5.7%
Life science 788 15.7% 9.1% -22.9% -19.5%
Other 893 14.7% 23.1% -21.5% -9.0%

All 3,673 27.2% 21.9% -12.5% -3.3%

Panel B: Long-run Returns on nonVC-backed IPOs, by Industry, 1980-2022

Average Average 3-year Buy-and-hold Return
Number First-day Market- Style-
Sector of IPOs Return IPOs adjusted adjusted
Tech 1,319 22.2% 15.1% -23.5% -9.0%
Life science 199 17.6% 35.7% 1.1% 26.0%
Other 3,936 10.4% 18.1% -25.8% -15.4%

All 5,454 13.5% 18.0% -24.2% -12.4%

Note: The high life science 3-year buy-and-hold return for the 199 nonVC-backed IPOs in Panel B is partly driven
by the 2,444.8% return on the June 1980 IPO of Enzo Biochem and the 1,606.1% return on the August 2003 IPO of
New River Pharmaceutical, which used a WR Hambrecht + Co auction to go public. Of the 971 life science IPOs
during 1980-2021, these are two of the three top long-run performers, with the VC-backed July 1998 IPO of
Abgenix being the third, with a 2,071.1% return. Moderna, a December 2018 VC-backed IPO, produced the fifth-
highest return.

71
 Table 18c (updated April 10, 2024)

Long-run Returns on VC-backed and other IPOs Segmented by Industry, 1999-2022

This table appears as Table 8 in “Going Public with IPOs and SPAC Mergers” by Rongbing
Huang, Jay R. Ritter, and Donghang Zhang, forthcoming in Research Handbook on the Structure
of Private Equity and Venture Capital, edited by Brian Broughman and Elisabeth de Fontenay.

3,464 IPOs from 1999-2022 are used, with returns calculated through December 29, 2023. See the
captions to Tables 2 and 6 in the book chapter above for a description of the sample and industry
definitions.

Panel A: Long-run Returns on VC-backed IPOs, by Industry, 1999-2022

Average Average 3-year Buy-and-hold Return

Number First-day Market- Style-
Sector of IPOs Return IPOs adjusted adjusted
Tech 1,030 54.4% -13.7% -18.9% -28.2%
Life science 579 18.6% 2.2% -21.2% -25.5%
Other 285 23.4% 0.0% -19.8% -33.6%

All 1,894 38.8% -6.8% -19.8% -28.2%

Panel B: Long-run Returns on nonVC-backed IPOs, by Industry, 1999-2022

Average Average 3-year Buy-and-hold Return

Number First-day Market- Style-
Sector of IPOs Return IPOs adjusted adjusted
Tech 458 32.8% -21.5% -23.4% -34.4%
Life science 113 21.9% 3.5% -15.1% -10.7%
Other 999 13.9% 11.3% -6.2% -13.0%

All 1,570 20.0% 1.2% -11.8% -19.1%

72
 Table 19: Updated Table I of Ritter and Welch 2002 Journal of Finance article

Number of IPOs, First-day Returns, and Long Run Performance, IPOs from 1980-2022
(Updated April 10, 2024)

The equally weighted (EW) average first-day return is measured from the offer price to the first
CRSP-listed closing price. EW average three-year buy-and-hold percentage returns (capital gains
plus dividends) are calculated from the first closing market price to the earlier of the three-year
anniversary price, the delisting price, or December 29, 2023 (a Friday). Buy-and-hold returns for
initial public offerings (IPOs) occurring after Dec. 31, 2022 are not calculated. Market-adjusted
returns are calculated as the buy-and-hold return on an IPO minus the compounded daily return on
the CRSP value-weighted index of Amex, Nasdaq, and NYSE firms. Style-adjusted buy-and-hold
returns are calculated as the difference between the return on an IPO and a style-matched firm.
For each IPO, a non-IPO matching firm that has been CRSP-listed for at least five years with the
closest market capitalization (size) and book-to-market ratio as the IPO is used. Market
capitalization is calculated using the first closing market price after the IPO. If this stock is delisted
prior to the IPO return’s ending date, or if it conducts a follow-on stock offering, a replacement
matching firm is spliced in on a point-forward basis. IPOs with an offer price below $5.00 per
share, unit offers, small best efforts offers, natural resource limited partnerships, REITs, closed-
end funds, banks and S&Ls, ADRs, and IPOs not listed on CRSP within six months of issuing
have been excluded. Data is from Thomson Financial Securities Data, with supplements from
Dealogic and other sources, and corrections by the authors. The number of IPOs per year is much
lower for the early 1980s than in the 1995 Journal of Finance article “The New Issues Puzzle” by
Loughran and Ritter because that paper used a $1.00 offer price screen. The number is larger than
in the 2002 Journal of Finance article “A Review of IPO Activity, Pricing, and Allocations” due
to various data corrections and the back-filling of Nasdaq-listed foreign issuers by CRSP.

73
 Average Average Average 3-year Buy-and-hold Return
Number First-day One-year Market- Style-
Year of IPOs Return Return IPOs adjusted adjusted
1980 71 14.3% 28.7% 89.8% 37.0% 18.5%
1981 192 5.9% -10.5% 12.3% -27.0% 11.0%
1982 77 11.0% 101.8% 37.5% -31.5% -12.0%
1983 451 9.9% -19.2% 15.9% -37.7% -4.4%
1984 171 3.7% 20.0% 50.2% -28.5% 29.0%
1985 186 6.4% 23.6% 5.6% -41.3% -12.3%
1986 393 6.2% 9.5% 16.9% -22.6% -1.3%
1987 285 5.6% -21.5% -2.6% -19.1% -11.2%
1988 105 5.5% 28.7% 58.0% 9.7% 38.7%
1989 116 8.0% -5.5% 48.1% 13.2% 7.2%
1990 110 10.8% 4.0% 9.7% -35.9% -38.4%
1991 286 11.9% 10.5% 31.2% -1.8% 5.8%
1992 412 10.3% 20.5% 37.4% -0.2% 11.1%
1993 510 12.7% 3.0% 44.1% -8.7% -9.5%
1994 402 9.6% 27.8% 78.0% -5.7% -0.9%
1995 462 21.4% 26.5% 28.6% -58.0% -24.7%
1996 677 17.2% 7.1% 25.2% -56.8% 7.0%
1997 474 14.0% 8.0% 58.3% -2.0% 22.0%
1998 283 21.8% 18.4% 22.9% 5.1% -4.9%
1999 476 71.2% 22.1% -47.6% -32.5% -60.6%
2000 380 56.4% -52.9% -60.1% -30.9% -56.9%
2001 80 14.0% -14.3% 18.0% 14.6% -27.8%
2002 66 9.1% 3.1% 68.6% 39.0% -0.4%
2003 63 11.7% 25.7% 34.0% -7.7% -11.2%
2004 173 12.3% 17.8% 51.4% 6.9% -7.0%
2005 159 10.3% 19.0% 14.6% 3.1% -2.5%
2006 157 12.1% 21.4% -28.8% -11.1% -4.5%
2007 159 14.0% -28.4% -16.5% -0.4% 0.5%
2008 21 5.7% -34.4% 11.4% 8.1% 5.1%
2009 41 9.8% 11.5% 37.0% -5.1% -18.3%
2010 91 9.4% 15.7% 36.4% -9.6% -18.5%
2011 81 13.9% -12.2% 38.6% -8.7% -11.6%
2012 93 17.7% 35.7% 81.9% 31.8% 33.4%
2013 158 20.9% 12.8% 12.1% -14.1% -16.1%
2014 206 15.5% 20.1% 17.1% -9.7% -12.3%
2015 118 19.2% -23.8% 24.5% -9.9% -26.3%
2016 75 14.5% 23.3% 70.5% 29.5% 27.0%
2017 106 12.9% 32.4% 52.8% 22.6% 37.1%
2018 134 18.6% -6.8% 79.1% 23.4% 37.7%
2019 113 23.5% 33.0% 12.5% -25.1% -24.6%
2020 165 41.6% 9.9% -48.1% -78.6% -77.3%
2021 311 32.1% -49.2% -50.1% -57.9% -43.0%
2022 38 48.9% -27.8% -31.9% -45.6% -30.8%
2023

1980-1989 2,047 7.2% 3.4% 22.5% -22.6% 2.2%

1990-1998 3,616 14.8% 14.0% 39.7% -21.0% -0.2%
1999-2000 856 64.6% -11.2% -53.1% -31.8% -58.9%
2001-2010 1,010 11.6% 6.7% 17.1% 2.2% -7.6%
2011-2022 1,598 23.7% -0.7% 10.8% -19.4% -15.8%
1980-2022 9,127 19.0% 5.9% 19.6% -19.5% -8.7%

74
 Table 19a (updated April 11, 2024)

Long-run Returns on IPOs Categorized by Sales, by Subperiod

The sample is composed of 9,127 IPOs from 1980-2022, with returns calculated through the end
of December 2023. Sales are the trailing twelve months reported in the IPO prospectus, converted
to dollars of January $2024 purchasing power using the CPI. IPOs with an offer price below $5.00
per share, unit offers, small best efforts offerings, ADRs, REITs, closed end funds, SPACs, natural
resource limited partnerships, banks and S&Ls, and IPOs not listed on CRSP within six months of
the offer date are excluded. Buy-and-hold returns are calculated from the first closing market price
until the earlier of the three-year anniversary or the delisting date (Dec. 29 of 2023 for IPOs from
2021 and 2022). Market-adjusted returns use the CRSP value-weighted index. All returns include
dividends and capital gains. Style adjustments use firms matched by market cap and book-to-
market ratio with at least five years of CRSP listing and no follow-on equity issues in the prior
five years. Market capitalization (size) is calculated using the first closing market price after the
IPO. All returns include dividends and capital gains, including the index returns.

Panel A: IPOs from 1980-1995 categorized by annual sales ($2024)

Average Average 3-year Buy-and-hold Return

Number First-day Market- Style-
Small or large sales? of IPOs Return IPOs adjusted adjusted

$50 million or less 1,666 13.8% 15.0% -38.7% -10.9%

Greater than $50 mm 2,563 8.2% 44.3% -7.7% 3.2%

All 4,229 10.4% 32.8% -19.9% -2.4%

Panel B: IPOs from 1996-2022 categorized by annual sales ($2024)

Average Average 3-year Buy-and-hold Return

Number First-day Market- Style-
Small or large sales? of IPOs Return IPOs adjusted adjusted

$50 million or less 2,163 34.0% -14.9% -40.0% -31.0%

Greater than $50 mm 2,735 20.8% 25.2% -3.9% -1.8%

All 4,898 26.4% 8.2% -19.2% -14.2%

75
 Table 20 (updated April 10, 2024)
Returns on IPOs during the five years after issuing, for IPOs from 1980-2022
These tables show that IPOs have underperformed other firms of the same size (market cap) by an
average of 2.3% per year during the five years after issuing, not including the first-day return. The
underperformance relative to other firms of the same size and book-to-market ratio has averaged 2.2% per
year on an equally weighted basis. Returns are through Dec. 29, 2023.

Table 20-1
Percentage returns on IPOs from 1980-2022 during the first five years after issuing
First Second Geometric
six six First Second Third Fourth Fifth Mean
months months Year year year year Year years 1-5

IPO firms 5.3% -0.1% 5.9% 5.8% 11.9% 18.3% 10.0% 10.3%
Size-matched 5.6% 5.3% 11.4% 14.2% 15.2% 16.7% 12.7% 14.0%
Difference -0.3% -5.4% -5.5% -8.4% -3.3% 1.6% -2.7% -3.7%

IPO firms 5.3% -0.1% 5.9% 5.8% 11.9% 18.3% 10.0% 10.3%
Size & BM- 4.4% 4.1% 8.6% 12.2% 12.4% 16.9% 12.7% 12.5%
Matched
Difference 1.1% -4.2% -2.7% -6.4% -0.5% 1.4% -2.7% -2.2%

No. of IPOs 9,127 9,105 9,127 8,975 8,239 7,089 6,192

All returns are equally weighted average returns for all IPOs that are traded on Nasdaq, the Amex (now NYSE
MKT), or the NYSE at the start of a period. For the first and third columns, the returns are measured from the
closing market price on the first day of CRSP-reported trading until the sixth-month or one-year anniversary. For
years 2-5, each year the portfolios are rebalanced to equal weights. If an issuing firm is delisted within a year, its
return for that year is calculated by compounding the CRSP value-weighted market index for the rest of the year.
For the size-matched returns, each IPO is matched with the nonissuing firm having the same or next higher market
capitalization (using the closing market price on the first day of trading for the IPO, and the market capitalization at
the end of the previous month for the matching firms). For the size & BM-matched returns, each IPO with a book-
to-market ratio higher than zero is matched with a nonissuing firm in the same size decile (using NYSE firms only
for determining the decile breakpoints) having the closest book-to-market ratio. Each IPO with a zero or smaller
book-to-market ratio is matched with a nonissuing firm of a book-to-market ratio of zero or smaller having the
closest market capitalization. For the IPOs, book-to-market ratios are calculated using the first recorded post-issue
book value and the post-issue market cap calculated using the closing market price on the first CRSP-listed day of
trading. For nonissuing firms, the Compustat-listed book value of equity for the most recent fiscal year ending at
least four months prior to the IPO date is used, along with the market cap at the close of trading at month-end prior
to the month of the IPO with which it is matched. Nonissuing firms are those that have been listed on the Amex-
Nasdaq-NYSE for at least five years, without issuing equity for cash during that time. If a nonissuer subsequently
issues equity, it is still used as the matching firm. If a nonissuer gets delisted prior to the delisting (or the fifth
anniversary), the second-closest matching firm on the original IPO date is substituted, on a point-forward basis. For
firms with multiple classes of stock outstanding, market cap is calculated using the offer price and the total number
of shares outstanding across all classes of stock as reported in Compustat. Firms with multiple classes of stock are
excluded as potential matching candidates. The sample size is 9,127 IPOs from 1980-2022, excluding IPOs with an
offer price of less than $5.00, ADRs, REITs, acquisition funds, closed-end funds, banks and S&Ls, unit offers, small
best efforts deals, and oil & gas limited partnerships. IPOs that are not listed on CRSP within six months of the IPO
are excluded. For IPOs from 1980 and later, if book value numbers are missing so that no style-matched firm is
available as a benchmark, the value-weighted market return is used for the matching firm return. Returns are
measured through December 29, 2023. For partial event-years that end on this date, the last partial year is deleted
from the computations. For example, for an IPO on March 15, 2022, its first-year return is included, but not the
second-year return.

76
Table 20-2
Percentage returns on IPOs from 1980-1989 during the first five years after issuing

First Second Geometric

six six First Second Third Fourth Fifth mean
months months year year Year year year years 1-5

IPO firms 3.6% -0.8% 3.4% 9.6% 12.1% 2.3% 8.1% 7.1%
Size-matched 3.7% 3.4% 7.0% 16.6% 16.7% 7.3% 10.1% 11.5%
Difference -0.1% -4.2% -3.6% -7.0% -4.6% -5.0% -2.0% -4.4%

IPO firms 3.6% -0.8% 3.4% 9.6% 12.1% 2.3% 8.1% 7.1%
Size & BM- -0.1% 1.5% 0.9% 14.6% 9.4% 4.4% 11.1% 7.9%
Matched
Difference 3.7% -2.3% 2.5% -5.0% 2.7% -2.1% -3.0% -0.8%

No. of IPOs 2,047 2,041 2,047 2,013 1,868 1,706 1,558

Table 20-3
Percentage returns on IPOs from 1990-1999 during the first five years after issuing

First Second Geometric

six six First Second Third Fourth Fifth mean
months months year year Year year year years 1-5

IPO firms 12.9% 3.6% 14.9% 7.8% 9.2% 25.6% 12.9% 13.9%
Size-matched 6.6% 8.6% 15.8% 17.8% 16.3% 20.4% 15.9% 17.2%
Difference 6.3% -5.0% -0.9% -10.0% -7.1% 5.2% -3.0% -3.3%

IPO firms 12.9% 3.6% 14.9% 7.8% 9.1% 25.6% 12.9% 13.9%
Size & BM- 7.1% 7.4% 14.9% 15.7% 12.2% 24.4% 13.6% 16.1%
matched
Difference 5.8% -3.8% 0.0% -7.9% -3.1% 1.2% -0.7% -2.2%

No. of IPOs 4,092 4,087 4,092 4,019 3,640 3,190 2,763

77
Table 20-4
Percentage returns on IPOs from 2000-2022 during the first five years after issuing

First Second Geometric

six six First Second Third Fourth Fifth mean
months months year year year year year years 1-5

IPO firms -3.9% -4.6% -4.8% 0.5% 15.3% 20.3% 7.3% 7.3%
Size-matched 5.6% 2.0% 8.4% 7.4% 12.7% 18.6% 10.1% 11.4%
Difference -9.5% -6.6% -13.2% -6.9% 2.4% 1.7% -2.7% 3.9%

IPO firms -3.9% -4.6% -4.8% 0.5% 15.3% 20.3% 7.3% 7.3%
Size & BM- 3.9% 1.4% 5.4% 5.9% 14.6% 15.7% 12.7% 10.8%
matched
Difference -7.8% -6.0% -10.2% -5.4% 0.7% 4.6% -5.4% -3.3%

No. of IPOs 2,988 2,977 2,988 2,941 2,731 2,193 1,871

Returns are through December 29, 2023. Thus, the fifth-year returns are only for those IPOs from 2000 to 2018, and
the fourth-year returns are only for those IPOs from 2000 to 2019, etc. Note that the fifth-year returns are available
only for those IPOs that survived for at least four years.

78
 Table 21 (updated December 30, 2024)
The Mean and Median Percentage Public Float, 1980-2024
The public float is the number of shares issued in the IPO (not including overallotment shares) divided by the post-issue
number of shares outstanding in all share classes, multiplied by 100%.
Number Public Float, % Percentiles
Year of IPOs Mean Median 25th 75th
1980 71 31.0 28.5 20.3 34.2
1981 192 27.4 25.5 20.0 34.4
1982 77 26.7 25.1 19.5 33.2
1983 451 30.0 28.5 21.9 35.8
1984 171 29.1 28.0 21.8 35.7
1985 186 32.0 30.7 23.7 38.3
1986 393 32.0 30.2 22.5 38.2
1987 285 31.5 29.1 22.0 39.2
1988 105 26.6 24.1 19.4 32.0
1989 116 31.3 29.9 23.0 34.8
1990 110 32.5 30.5 23.5 38.8
1991 286 33.6 31.7 25.3 38.4
1992 412 35.4 33.3 25.5 41.4
1993 510 35.6 33.3 25.9 42.4
1994 402 34.3 32.1 25.2 40.3
1995 462 32.5 30.5 23.9 38.8
1996 677 31.4 30.1 22.6 38.1
1997 474 32.9 30.2 23.7 39.5
1998 283 30.7 27.9 20.7 37.0
1999 476 23.1 20.5 15.5 28.4
2000 380 21.0 19.4 14.0 25.2
2001 80 27.2 22.4 17.7 33.5
2002 66 31.3 26.9 20.3 35.7
2003 63 33.4 29.9 21.0 38.9
2004 173 31.4 26.1 21.9 35.3
2005 159 34.6 31.5 24.9 42.4
2006 157 30.2 28.2 22.8 35.2
2007 159 28.4 26.3 19.4 33.9
2008 21 29.9 27.7 21.3 39.3
2009 41 30.0 28.0 19.4 34.2
2010 91 30.1 27.8 20.0 34.6
2011 81 23.7 22.2 15.8 28.2
2012 93 23.7 22.3 14.7 27.2
2013 158 25.0 23.7 17.6 30.0
2014 206 26.7 26.2 19.3 33.0
2015 118 25.0 23.0 17.3 31.2
2016 75 22.2 23.0 14.7 27.9
2017 106 21.8 21.5 15.7 26.1
2018 134 22.0 21.0 15.1 27.6
2019 113 21.0 19.7 14.1 25.7
2020 165 22.0 22.0 15.6 28.1
2021 311 18.2 16.7 11.2 23.8
2022 38 19.7 15.4 11.0 28.2
2023 54 15.4 12.8 9.1 20.4
2024 72 20.7 17.4 11.5 30.2
1980-2024 9,253 29.3 27.3 19.9 35.7

79
 Table 22
Non-distress Delistings within Three Years of the IPO
This is an updated Table 3 of the 2013 Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis article “Where Have All
the IPOs Gone?” by Xiaohui Gao, Jay R. Ritter, and Zhongyan Zhu.

Number of acquisitions and buyouts by

No. of cohort IPOs Financial
No of Delisted for Strategic Buyer Buyer
Year IPOs Non-distress reasons Public Private Percentage Public Private
1980 71 2 2 0 2.7% 0 0
1981 192 13 11 1 6.1% 0 1
1982 77 6 4 2 7.7% 0 0
1983 451 29 27 2 6.4% 0 0
1984 171 16 14 2 9.1% 0 0
1985 186 18 14 2 8.6% 0 2
1986 393 40 31 5 9.2% 0 4
1987 285 44 26 4 10.6% 0 14
1988 105 7 7 0 6.9% 0 0
1989 116 8 8 0 7.1% 0 0
1990 110 5 4 1 4.5% 0 0
1991 286 9 6 3 3.1% 0 0
1992 412 36 34 2 8.7% 0 0
1993 510 44 38 4 8.2% 0 2
1994 402 42 37 4 10.1% 0 1
1995 462 79 72 6 16.9% 0 1
1996 677 115 101 11 16.6% 0 3
1997 474 82 69 6 15.8% 0 7
1998 283 40 33 3 12.8% 0 4
1999 477 106 96 8 21.8% 0 2
2000 381 56 51 4 14.4% 0 1
2001 80 8 8 0 10.1% 0 0
2002 66 11 10 1 16.7% 0 0
2003 63 8 7 0 11.3% 0 1
2004 173 24 21 0 12.1% 0 1
2005 159 24 19 4 14.4% 0 1
2006 157 19 16 1 10.8% 0 2
2007 159 17 14 2 10.7% 2 1
2008 21 3 3 0 14.3% 0 0
2009 41 6 4 1 14.6% 0 1
2010 91 8 3 2 8.8% 0 1
2011 81 7 0 0 8.6% 0 2
2012 93 14 0 0 15.1% 0 2
2013 158 14 1 0 8.9% 0 0
2014 206 5 1 0 2.4% 0 1
2015 118 0 0 0 1
2016 75
2017 106
2018
2019
2020
2021
1980-2017 8,368 967 794 81 11.4% 4 56

80
 Table 23 (updated December 23, 2024)
Dual Class IPOs
This table lists the number of IPOs each year that have dual class shares among tech IPOs and among non-tech IPOs. The
sample is IPOs with an offer price of at least $5.00, excluding ADRs, unit offers, closed-end funds, REITs, natural
resource limited partnerships, small best efforts offers, banks and S&Ls, and stocks not listed on CRSP (CRSP includes
Amex, NYSE, and NASDAQ stocks). Laura Field and Michelle Lowry supplied classifications for many years.
Tech IPOs Non-tech IPOs All IPOs
Dual Total % Dual Total % Dual Total %
1980 0 22 0% 1 49 2.0% 1 71 1.4%
1981 2 72 2.8% 4 120 3.3% 6 192 3.1%
1982 0 42 0% 0 35 0.0% 0 77 0.0%
1983 3 173 1.7% 4 278 1.4% 7 451 1.6%
1984 2 50 4.0% 5 121 4.1% 7 171 4.1%
1985 1 37 2.7% 6 149 4.0% 7 186 3.8%
1986 3 77 3.9% 21 316 6.6% 24 393 6.1%
1987 1 59 1.7% 23 226 10.2% 24 285 8.4%
1988 4 28 14.3% 8 77 10.4% 12 105 11.4%
1989 1 35 2.9% 5 81 6.2% 6 116 5.2%
1990 0 32 0% 9 78 11.5% 9 110 8.2%
1991 6 71 8.5% 18 215 8.4% 24 286 8.4%
1992 4 115 3.5% 18 297 6.1% 22 412 4.9%
1993 3 127 2.4% 31 383 8.1% 34 510 6.7%
1994 7 115 6.1% 26 287 9.1% 33 402 8.2%
1995 8 205 3.9% 23 257 8.9% 31 462 6.7%
1996 14 276 5.1% 45 401 11.2% 59 677 8.7%
1997 10 174 5.7% 40 300 13.3% 50 474 10.5%
1998 8 113 7.1% 21 170 12.4% 29 283 10.2%
1999 22 370 5.9% 19 106 17.9% 41 476 8.6%
2000 18 261 6.9% 7 119 5.9% 25 380 6.6%
2001 2 24 8.3% 6 56 10.7% 8 80 10.0%
2002 1 20 5.0% 11 46 23.9% 12 66 18.2%
2003 1 18 5.6% 5 45 11.1% 6 63 9.5%
2004 3 61 4.9% 9 112 8.0% 12 173 6.9%
2005 9 45 20.0% 13 114 11.4% 22 159 13.8%
2006 1 48 2.1% 10 109 9.2% 11 157 7.0%
2007 5 76 6.6% 13 83 15.7% 18 159 11.3%
2008 0 6 0% 3 15 20.0% 3 21 14.3%
2009 2 14 14.3% 3 27 11.1% 5 41 12.2%
2010 2 33 6.1% 8 58 13.8% 10 91 11.0%
2011 5 36 13.9% 9 45 20.0% 14 81 17.3%
2012 6 40 15.0% 9 53 17.0% 15 93 16.1%
2013 5 45 11.1% 23 113 20.4% 28 158 17.7%
2014 3 53 5.7% 18 153 11.8% 21 206 10.2%
2015 14 38 36.8% 8 80 10.0% 22 118 18.6%
2016 5 21 23.8% 4 54 7.4% 9 75 12.0%
2017 13 30 43.3% 17 76 22.4% 30 106 28.3%
2018 14 39 35.9% 13 95 13.7% 27 134 20.1%
2019 13 37 35.1% 13 76 17.1% 26 113 23.0%
2020 19 46 41.3% 14 119 11.8% 33 165 20.0%
2021 55 121 45.5% 46 190 24.2% 101 311 32.5%
2022 3 6 50.0% 5 32 15.6% 8 38 21.1%
2023 4 9 44.4% 10 45 22.2% 14 54 25.9%
2024 5 13 38.5% 11 59 18.6% 16 72 22.2%
1980-24 307 3,333 9.2% 615 5,920 10.3% 922 9,253 10.0%

81
 Table 24 (updated July 26, 2024)

Long-run Returns on IPOs Categorized by Dual Class Status

9,127 IPOs from 1980-2022 are used, with returns calculated through the end of December 2023. IPOs with an
offer price below $5.00 per share, unit offers, small best efforts offerings, ADRs, REITs, closed-end funds, natural
resource limited partnerships (all of which have dual class structures), banks and S&Ls, and IPOs not listed on
CRSP within six months of the offer date are excluded. Buy-and-hold returns are calculated from the first close
until the earlier of the three-year anniversary or the delisting date (the end December of 2023 for IPOs from 2021
and 2022). Market-adjusted returns use the CRSP value-weighted index. Style adjustments use firms matched by
market cap and book-to-market ratio with at least five years of CRSP listing and no follow-on equity issues in the
prior five years. All returns include dividends and capital gains, including the index returns. Firms with two or
more classes of shares are classified as dual class. Firms with pre-IPO convertible preferred that converted into
common at the time of the IPO are classified based on the pro forma (post-conversion) share structure.

Panel A: IPOs from 1980-2022 categorized by dual class status

Average Average 3-year Buy-and-hold Return

Number First-day
Dual class or not of IPOs Return IPOs Market-adjusted Style-adjusted

Dual class 891 20.0% 30.6% -3.8% -4.4%

Single class 8,236 18.9% 18.4% -21.2% -9.2%

1980-2022 9,127 19.0% 19.6% -19.5% -8.7%

Panel B: IPOs from 1980-2022 categorized by dual class and tech status

Average Average 3-year Buy-and-hold Return

Number First-day
Buyout-backed or not of IPOs Return IPOs Market-adjusted Style-adjusted

Tech stocks
Dual class 298 33.8% 43.1% 17.5% 17.8%
Single class 3,013 31.0% 19.8% -14.9% -1.9%

All tech stocks 3,311 31.3% 21.9% -12.0% -0.2%

Non-tech stocks
Dual class 593 13.1% 24.3% -14.4% -15.6%
Single class 5,223 11.9% 17.6% -24.9% -13.3%

All non-tech stocks 5,816 12.0% 18.3% -23.8% -13.6%

82
 Figure 1

IPO Turnover Categorized by Time Period and First-Day Return, 1983-2023

120%

100%

80%

60%

40%

2001-2023
20%
1999-2000

0% 1990-1998
Return < 0%
0% < Return < 1983-1989
10% 10% < Return <
60% Return > 60%

Turnover is calculated as the CRSP–reported first day volume divided by the number of shares issued (global
issuance, excluding over allotment options). Nasdaq volume numbers are divided by 2 for 1983-January 2001,
by 1.8 for the rest of 2001, and by 1.6 for 2002-2003 to make them comparable to Amex and NYSE volume. The
four subperiods are 1983-1989, 1990-1998, 1999-2000, and 2001-2023. Returns are the first-day return, measured
from the offer price to the closing market price. Closed-end funds, REITs, SPACs, unit offers, all IPOs by foreign
firms, and bank and S&L IPOs are excluded. Panel C of Table 3 reports the numbers that are graphed here.

83
 Figure 2: See Table 9 for details

Percentage of IPOs with Negative EPS and Percentage of Tech Stocks, 1980-2024
90%

80%

70%

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%

Percentage of IPOs with EPS<0 Percentage of Tech Stocks

.

84
 Figure 3

The public float is the number of shares issued in the IPO divided by the post-issue number of shares outstanding in all
share classes. See Table 21 for details.

Mean and Median Public Float as a Percentage of Post-Issue Shares Outstanding, 1980-2023
40

35

30

25

20

15

10

Mean Median

85
Figure 4: See Table 1 for details.

86
 Figure 5: The number of IPOs and average first-day returns per year, 1980-2024

800 80%

700 70%

600 60%

Average First-day Returns

500 50%
Number of IPOs

400 40%

300 30%

200 20%

100 10%

0 0%

The number of IPOs (bars) and equally weighted average first-day return, by year, for 1980-2024 for operating companies
going public with traditional IPOs on major U.S. exchanges (ADRs, penny stocks, etc. are excluded. See Table 1 for details.)

87
 Figure 6: Number and Percentage of U.S. IPOs from Chinese Companies, 1990-2023

35 30%

30
25%

25

Percentage of Chinese IPOs

NUmber of Chinese IPOs

20%

20
15%
15

10%
10

5%
5

0 0%

Number of Chinese IPOs (Left) Percentage of Chinese IPOs (Right)

Table 14 gives the numbers plotted here. In this figure, ADRs are included for both
the number of Chinese IPOs and the overall number of IPOs.

88