Financial Terms Glossary
The most important financial terms - with simple and concise explanations.
IPO (Initial Public Offering)
An initial public offering (IPO) refers to the first sale of a company's shares to the public. Through the IPO, the company is transformed into a public limited company and gains access to capital markets in order to obtain additional financial resources for growth and expansion. The company itself decides how many shares it wants to offer for sale, and an investment bank proposes the initial share price based on expected demand.