Companies pay multiple fees as part of the IPO process

Many investment bankers work on IPOs

When a company undertakes an IPO, investment banks often buy many of the organization’s shares directly from the company, in order to sell the shares on the stock market. The bank stands to profit after marking up the shares.

An initial public offering is how a private company becomes public

This milestone requires plenty of preparation, starting with the SEC's S-1 registration, revealing key details about the company's finances and strategy. Investment bankers set valuations, secure long-term investors, and finalize share pricing before the public launch. IPOs provide companies with significant capital, but also demand transparency and invite public scrutiny.

An initial public offering or 'IPO' is the process of a private company becoming public by putting shares of the company on the stock market for purchase.

It's difficult for individual investors to purchase IPO shares

Although the process of going public means the general public can invest in a company, the initial investment period is different. Before individual investors get in on the action, investment bankers sell the shares to larger financial institutions who can afford the asking price and risk associated with an IPO.

Book building is widely considered the most efficient way to price securities

During the book-building process, bankers determine an IPO’s price per share, requesting bids from fund managers and other institutional investors for the number of shares they want and how much they’d be willing to pay for them.

Why companies go public

There are many ways the founders of private companies can make money off an exit. They could sell the company to a larger organization, for instance. But there are unique benefits to having a company listed on the stock market that aren’t often outlined in news alerts about IPOs.

Smaller companies’ IPO information can be hard to track down

This calendar keeps you updated on the current IPO dates and pricing from different companies. You can search for upcoming and future IPO dates and see which companies withdrew from the IPO process.

IPOs that failed

Plenty of private companies fail once they try to go public. Failing can mean shares sell for less than their initial asking price on its IPO date, or it can look like a company pulling out of the IPO process at the last minute. Some companies with failed IPOs include Pets.com, Etsy, and Robinhood. Learn more about these companies and others here.

Mutual funds come with a few fees

Since many mutual funds are actively managed, investors will have to pay regular fees to fund this service. Plus, there are exchange fees, purchase fees, marketing fees, and many more.

Startups fundraise in 'rounds' as they prove out their business and scale

When startups take on outside funding, those investments are divided into different "rounds." These rounds are catered to different stages in a startup's life cycle—a startup often needs different types of investors and amounts of funding at different stages of the business. For instance, a pre-seed investment round can include investments ranging from about $25K to $500K, whereas a Series D investment can be hundreds of millions of dollars.

Learn how to read a prospectus, the juicy document that any company must file with the SEC before going public.

The fees for keeping a company listed on the NYSE are typically higher than the Nasdaq's

The current maximum annual listing fee for companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange was $500K as of early 2026. The maximum annual listing fee for companies listed in Nasdaq's top tier, on the other hand, was of $193K. Companies listed must pay these fees each year.

Some companies like to make their IPO day antics unique

An article details some of the wildest bell-ringing day stunts in recent history, from Clifford the Big Red Dog ringing the opening bell to one company's employees roasting marshmallows in a campfire on Wall Street as it went public.

Hedge funds, the private investment firms that trade a wide swath of financial assets, make money by imposing steep fees on investors and from the fund's investment performance.

Google had a quirky, auction-based IPO

In its sixth year, Google's shareholders reached a size where regulators would require the company to publicly report its financials. This prompted the company to go public through an unconventional style: the Dutch auction. The company auctioned its shares starting from a high price and dropping to a lower level.

'Payment in kind' is a compensation method that uses alternatives to cash

Companies can make payments using goods, services, or additional securities instead of cash, helping companies preserve their cash flow. Public BDCs receive roughly 8% of their investment income via PIK.

How fee-free Robinhood makes money

Robinhood is both loved and hated by retail investors. Although its mobile app is easy to use and transactions on its platform are fee-free, many individuals have taken issue with a controversial practice that drives 75% of its revenues. Robinhood uses payment for order flow, essentially taking payment from other brokerages to redirect users’ trades. Read up on how PFOF works here.

The story of Klarna's IPO

BNPY company Klarna went public on the NYSE in September 2025, roughly 20 years after it was founded. At the time, Klarna made roughly three-quarters of its revenue via merchant fees, charging a small premium for each purchase.

Dive deep into the numbers that shape each YC deal

Y Combinator invests $500K into each company in any given batch. $125K of that investment converts into a fixed 7% in ownership of the startup, and the other $375K is invested on something called an uncapped MFN safe. YC explains what that means and more terms of the deal in a detailed article on their website

Carried interest is a share of the profits that a venture capital firm’s general partners earn

Also known as "carry" for short, carried interest is roughly 20% of a fund’s returns, but the exact percentage varies between firms.

An MBA return on investment calculator

On average, the total investment for an MBA degree is more than $200K, which includes tuition, living expenses, lost income, and potential interest on student loans. This calculator can help you figure out your own future MBA degree’s estimated ROI based on your unique situation.

Consulting firms are known for their relatively high starting salaries

The “Big Three” and the “Big Four” consulting firms especially are known for high pay. Top firms often offer entry-level salaries well over $100K per year.

Many dot-com companies spent some investor money on expensive parties

Parties hosted by dot-com companies were known to be extravagant and expensive. Technology companies in the Bay Area hosted between 15 and 20 parties a week on average, which cost between $30K and $50K on average.

Roughly 39% of Visa's revenue comes from data processing fees.

Visa gets roughly 0.13% to 0.14% of each transaction. About 32% of its revenue stems from the money banks pay Visa to use its services, and roughly 26% of its revenue comes from international transaction fees.

Calculate your student loan payments

As of summer 2024, interest rates on federal student loans ranged from 6.5% for undergraduates to above 9% for loans taken out by parents (private loans can exceed 17%). The interest rate determines how quickly the amount owed grows. Use this calculator to estimate your monthly payments.

Temu works with individual sellers who list and promote their products on the platform

Temu not only takes a roughly 5% to 15% commission rate, but also earns the money its sellers pay to advertise their products on the Temu platform.

Becoming an Olympic swimmer costs tens of thousands of dollars

When you see Olympic athletes win gold, it's the culmination of years of hard work and discipline. But it isn't all sweat equity. Before ever stepping foot on the world stage, these athletes have to pay or find funding for private coaching and lessons, club memberships, and meet fees, with estimates that it costs $25K to $40K to make it to the Olympics.

The value of a trademark is just one element of brand valuation

Brand valuations give companies an idea of how valuable assets, like logos, are to the company and can help determine how much money branding departments should receive. Typically, brand valuations are a compilation of brand awareness metrics, like a consumer's willingness to pay, the value of a trademark, and the company's market position.

Venture capital is a form of funding provided to early-stage companies with high growth potential, typically in exchange for an equity (or ownership) stake

The Nasdaq's 'Magnificent 7' companies are responsible for roughly 40% of the Nasdaq 100 index's gains, while the remaining 93 companies account for the other 60%.

The price of gas is a composite made up of several different factors, with the federal gas tax making up less than 20% of what drivers pay at the pump.

Up to a million Girl Scouts sell about 200 million cookie boxes every spring, generating $800 million, largely because refusing a child is frowned upon

Warren Buffett's former professor Benjamin Graham is known as the 'father of value investing,' a strategy in which investors seek to buy stocks trading below their intrinsic worth.

Use this calculator to find the dollar value of your mental load, from meal planning to coordinating after-school care for your children.

Art theft is the third-largest source of criminal revenues worldwide, thanks in part to the subjective nature of valuing a work of art.

About 2,000 US babies are born annually without some portion of their limbs, potentially leading to a lifetime of pricey prosthetics.

A Yale student wrote a profound essay about the consulting industry's influence on elite college students that was published in a book of her writing after she died in a post-graduation car accident.

The most expensive ad of all time was for Chanel No. 5 perfume and cost roughly $33M to produce in 2004—about $57M in today's dollars.

The hormonal disorder PCOS was renamed PMOS in 2026, a move designed to improve care and research by shifting the focus to the hormonal causes of this condition that affects 1 in 8 women.

How Amazon operates a 'flywheel' business model, a self-reinforcing cycle that drives continuous growth

Some coin denominations have ridges etched on their sides, partly to prevent counterfeiting, in a practice called 'reeding.'

The first steps to rebuilding your credit score include getting to know exactly what's on your credit report and figuring out how far you are from the '700 club,' or 'good score' range.

Take a 3D tour of the Hajj, Islam's annual pilgrimage to Mecca, undertaken by more than 1.5 million Muslims each year.

Power lines are dotted with large, brightly colored balls to improve the visibility of these thin wires to helicopters and small planes and help prevent potential crashes.

The deadliest aspect of volcanic eruptions is often not lava, but pyroclastic flows—avalanches of ash, gas, and rock that can move more than half the speed of sound.

Mark Twain spent decades feuding with the US Postal Service, convinced its costs and regulations were bureaucratic overreach.

A 2019 Facebook event called on attendees to "Storm Area 51, They Can't Stop All of Us," resulting in countless memes, the creation of a music festival, and eventually the arrests of those who did try to approach the area.

While the sun's gravity keeps the planets in orbit, their gravity also pulls on the sun, causing it and everything else in the solar system to orbit around a mutual balance point called the barycenter—the true center of the solar system.

Some Pokémon have been named after real and fictional organisms, while some real-world species have been named after Pokémon, such as Chilicola charizard and Binburrum zapdos.

Budweiser stores yeast derived from the original 1800s strain in a secret bunker, which only the Head of Yeast Management can access—not even the CEO