Most-hyped biggest US IPOs of all time

In 2016, it was a mere number of 105 companies which made their debut on the stock exchange in the US, declining almost 40% from the year before that. So why exactly have IPOs vanished? While some say that the Brexit and presidential election dampened their enthusiasm, others reckon that the companies were able to access capital in the private market. Whatever the reasons may be, 2017 could turn out differently, with as many as 5 high-profile IPOs lined up.

While it’s too soon to tell how they’ll turn out to be, let us take a look at some of the most successful IPOs that the US stock market has had in the past:

AT&T Wireless, 2000, $10.62 billion: The mobile division of AT&T snuck in its IPO on April 26th, 2000, just before the dot-com bubble began to burst in mid-March, with its huge gamble paying off handsomely. The company released 360 million shares and share value closed at $31.75/share, significantly upward from the pre-offer value of $29.50. At the end of the day, AT&T Wireless had raked in $10.62 billion in fresh capital and ended up holding the record for being the largest IPO in US stock market history for six long years.

General Motors, 2010, $15.8 billion: In 2009 when the then-President George Bush bestowed upon GM an additional $30 billion lifeline (after an initial $50 billion already given in 2008) in return for 60% of shares, whoever knew it would make history? By 2010, GM had become one of the hottest companies, announcing its IPO to be held in November 2010. When it finally did go public, the company raked in an astounding $15.8 billion in fresh capital, making it the US stock market’s second-largest IPO ever and helping GM immensely in repaying its humongous $50 billion debt.

Facebook, 2012, $16 billion: In what was being called one of the most anticipated IPOs ever, the Facebook IPO nearly broke the market when it went public on May 1st, 2012. The price offering at the time of the IPO was a whopping $38/share, with Facebook possessing a market cap of $104 billion. However, the Facebook IPO faced troubles “ underwriters were forced to buy shares due to intense anticipation before the IPO and the company got tangled in a web of trading problems on the NASDAQ on the first day of trading.

Alibaba, 2014, $21.8 billion: Any milestone US IPO list is incomplete without mentioning Jack Ma’s Chinese e-commerce behemoth Alibaba, which has more transactions than Amazon and eBay combined. With its shares being offered at a staggering $68/share, Alibaba made its public debut with a mind-numbing $168 billion market cap, raking in $21.8 billion in fresh capital.