Top IPO Scholar on Unprecedented IPO Wave & Why IPOs Underperform the Market | Jay Ritter

Leading IPO researcher Jay Ritter, widely known as "Mr. IPO" and the director of the IPO Initiative at the University of Florida's Warrington College of Business breaks down the historic 2026 public market landscape. Ritter analyzes the unprecedented potential for a wave of mega-IPOs from tech giants like SpaceX, OpenAI, and Anthropic. He dives into the realities of staggering price-to-sales ratios, warning that while AI offers immense technological promise, eye-watering trillion-dollar valuations leave very little room for error. Ritter also cuts through the hype surrounding retail access to venture capital and private equity, explaining why extra layers of middlemen, "volatility washing," and an evaporating illiquidity premium mean average investors aren't actually missing out on a free lunch.



Professor Ritter’s IPO Data: https://site.warrington.ufl.edu/ritter/ipo-data/



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Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

00:58 Meet Mr IPO

01:40 2026 is Unprecedented

02:52 Do IPOs Signal Tops

04:27 How IPO Pricing Works

05:57 SpaceX Valuation Risks

09:26 TAM Hype and Cursor

13:27 2026 Versus Past Waves

16:17 Must Own AI Exposure

19:46 Regulation and Unintended Effects

27:29 Geopolitics and Dual Use

29:10 Will IPO Volume Boom?

32:40 VC/PE = No Free Lunch

35:36 Retail Access Fee Stacking

39:14 Volatility Washing and Perps

49:09 Sentiment and Final Takeaways