NYSE President Lynn Martin Talks IPOs Amid Geopolitical Unrest
episodePreviously titled “Lynn Martin, President of the New York Stock Exchange” — renamed by the publisher on Aug 3, 2026
Transcript
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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We saw an IPO pulled this week already. Is this conflict enough to materially change how companies are thinking about IPOing? I don't think so. I mean, there's always going to be geopolitical events happening and the political framework is always going to continue to evolve. And if you're a good company, you can always go public. I mean, you look at the volatility we saw in 2022, 2023, 2024. We had some amazing companies go public and do really well, raise a ton of capital. to fund their operations, to build R&D capabilities. And they're trading at levels that are multiples of where they IPO'd. You've got a company like Reddit, for example, that IPO'd around this time in 2024. It's done extraordinarily well.
So I think companies need to be mindful of how anything that's occurring on the geopolitical landscape is going to affect their businesses in the short term, medium term. What's more difficult, Lynn, or what's the thing that kind of makes you kind of want to pull your hair out? Is it the geopolitical? Is it stuff out of Washington? Or is it the constant and increasing growth of private markets that allow companies to stay private longer? Like it's pretty staggering that I think the thing that makes me want to pull my hair out is the narrative around what we could do to fix the fact that companies... don't necessarily see a quick exit in the public markets. If you take a couple of steps back, our public markets are the envy of the world.
You look at the amount of capital that gets raised there, secondaries, IPOs, whatever the case may be, it's extraordinary.
What insights does Lynn Martin provide about IPO trends amid geopolitical risks?
It is why more and more companies are looking towards the US as the most desirable geography from a capital formation standpoint. When you think about why a company isn't going public, a lot of times it is the areas that Chair Atkins covered in his Make IPOs Great Again speech, simpler disclosure frameworks, looking at mitigating some of the litigation risks that face public companies, those types of things, significant shareholder reform, proxy reform, things of that nature. That's really what keeps companies off to the sidelines. Is there something, though, Lynn, to be said that by having, though, a pretty deep private market and allowing companies to stay private a little bit longer, that when they finally go public, they're a much healthier company?
Absolutely. Absolutely. I've been saying this for years. Companies being private for longer, that's a great thing. Because to your point, when they come out to market, they have refined their strategy. They have a very clear path towards profitability or they're already profitable and they're ready to take that next step in diversification of shareholders. What about ending quarterly reporting? Does that prevent?
How do geopolitical events influence companies' decisions to go public?
Blasphemy. Well, I mean, the president pushed for that in the fall. Yeah, I know. I know. The SEC chair is looking to fast track it. What would that do in your view? It's a bit of a two-edged sword because what does eliminating quarterly reporting necessarily mean? You don't want to give people less transparency around financials. Oh, we hear you there. That's like our job, right? But if you're a newly public company, should you have to report? Your first earnings call, 45 days, within 45 days after you've IPO'd.
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–2:34
2
What insights does Lynn Martin provide about IPO trends amid geopolitical risks?
2:34–3:59
3
How do geopolitical events influence companies' decisions to go public?
3:59–8:06
4
What challenges do companies face when considering an IPO?
8:06–9:33
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