IPO

American  

abbreviation

1. initial public offering: a company's first stock offering to the public.

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IPO British  

abbreviation

1. independent publicly owned company

2. stock exchange initial public offering

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IPO Cultural  

1. Abbreviation for i nitial p ublic o ffering; the first issuance of shares in itself by a public company.

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Etymology

Origin of IPO

First recorded in 1975–80

Example Sentences

China’s Victory Giant raised 20.12 billion Hong Kong dollars, or US$2.57 billion in Hong Kong, marking the largest IPO in the city since Zijin Gold International.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 21, 2026

The SEC’s confidential IPO filing process lets regulators and companies engage in a back-and-forth dialogue about disclosures as they wrap up the paperwork.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 20, 2026

Cerebras filed for an IPO, highlighting its unique Wafer-Scale Engine chip that integrates AI computing cores and memory.

From Barron's • Apr. 20, 2026

That would make the Jersey Mike’s IPO bigger than other recent restaurant IPOs.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 20, 2026

The other, he said, are American investment banks and financial services companies, which often need to prepare glossy pamphlets with graphs to illustrate the benefits of an IPO or a proposed merger.

From "The World Is Flat" by Thomas L. Friedman