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