, Columnist
IPOs Are Going Out of Style
Maybe it's because there's so much private financing available.
They don't make them like that anymore.
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A number of people who are watching the ebullient tech startup scene have raised a red flag over the dearth of initial public offerings in the sector. The Wall Street Journal reports:
The Journal's thesis -- that tech IPOs are low because of low demand -- has a slight problem. As the article points out, tech stocks that have gone public in the past couple of years have performed badly after their share sales. But when stocks perform poorly after an IPO, it means that the public bought at inflated prices. And if the public bought at inflated prices, it means that demand was very high, not low. Investors snapped up any tech IPO they could get their hands on, even if it meant paying a premium.