A key position of public fairness markets is to assist join all traders with firms with a view to present capital crucial for these firms to develop, rent new employees, and fund analysis and growth (R&D).
In return, as these firms develop, they supply returns that construct wealth for U.S. households.
Intuitively, all these elements feed again into the economic system and strengthen it. Making U.S. fairness markets a cornerstone of the U.S. monetary system, a contributor to our financial success in addition to a supply of monetary safety to U.S. households.
At present, we spotlight among the key knowledge supporting Nasdaq’s proposals to reinvigorate U.S. public fairness markets.
Personal markets rising on the expense of public markets
The steadiness between private and non-private markets has shifted considerably since 2000. Notably:
- The variety of publicly listed firms within the U.S. has fallen by about 36%.
- Personal equity-backed firms (inexperienced line) have grown greater than 475%.
This reveals that there isn’t any lack of entrepreneurs or concepts within the U.S. — simply that fewer new firms are selecting to go public.
Chart 1: There are actually 2.5x as many PE-backed firms as public firms

Personal firms are ready longer and getting greater
Importantly, these aren’t simply firms which might be too small to go public.
There are over 1,400 unicorn firms (with valuations at or above $1 billion) value a mixed $5.1 trillion (chart under) – up from $330 billion a decade in the past. Regardless of the expansion of firms with a valuation of over $1 billion, analysis reveals that solely 26% are publicly listed. This consists of firms which might be value tens of billions of {dollars} and even a whole bunch of billions of {dollars}.
Chart 2: Increasingly unicorn firms are privately held

Public markets assist family wealth, innovation and financial progress
To make sure, non-public and public markets work collectively.
Personal markets typically present better flexibility that early-stage and high-growth firms must scale, whereas public markets ship a well-defined regulatory and liquidity framework that lowers the price of capital and drives accountability useful to broader society.
Nonetheless, there are challenges created by this pattern of extra firms staying non-public, as we spotlight in Nasdaq’s new white paper:
- Family monetary safety: Retail traders miss out on the chance to put money into these firms as public firms. That makes it more durable to safe the retirements of American traders, including to the reliance on social safety.
- Employment progress: Analysis reveals that firms that maintain an preliminary public providing (IPO) see common annual employment progress of 23% of their first three years post-IPO, in comparison with a 7% annual achieve for firms that withdraw their IPO submitting.
- Innovation: Funds from IPOs assist innovation by way of elevated R&D spending, with analysis displaying that public firms make investments about 50% extra in R&D than comparable non-public companies.
- Financial Development: Different analysis reveals that rising public markets additionally boosts financial progress.
Chart 3: Personal unicorns outperform broader public markets indexes

Economics is inflicting the shift
The explanation for this shift away from public markets is economics. Over time, new public firm rules have made being public costlier and fewer enticing.
That’s led to firms ready longer to go public, with the typical age at time of IPO rising from 6.9 years a decade in the past to 10.7 years now.
Chart 4: Common age of an organization at IPO

In the meantime, different rule adjustments have made it simpler and cheaper to entry non-public markets. There’s additionally been a pattern of extra firms selecting to stay non-public or return to non-public possession.
Information reveals that world non-public market AUM is up over 200% since 2013 to $14.5 trillion. The growing availability of personal cash has made it attainable for these firms to remain non-public.
Making public markets extra enticing once more
With public markets taking part in a key position in financial progress, employment, R&D and family wealth, it’s necessary to handle the problems contributing to the decline of public markets.
Nasdaq’s current white paper highlighted a number of commonsense reforms that may assist reinvigorate public markets and, finally, the U.S. economic system.
These embrace:
- Lowering the regulatory burden of going public by scaling disclosure necessities to the scale of the corporate and simplifying quarterly reporting – and even providing semiannual reporting, as was adopted within the U.Okay.
- Modernizing the proxy voting course of by streamlining communication with shareholders and elevating possession thresholds for submitting proposals and the required degree of shareholder assist to resubmit proposals, amongst different adjustments.
- Leveling the taking part in discipline with sensible regulation, like holding audits related and inexpensive, and stopping unproductive litigation.
Reinvigorating public markets can unlock a stronger American economic system
These structural adjustments will assist strengthen U.S. public markets and create economics that encourage extra firms to go and keep public.
Over time, the U.S. fairness market will play an much more necessary position in supporting financial progress and monetary safety for all.
A key position of public fairness markets is to assist join all traders with firms with a view to present capital crucial for these firms to develop, rent new employees, and fund analysis and growth (R&D).
In return, as these firms develop, they supply returns that construct wealth for U.S. households.
Intuitively, all these elements feed again into the economic system and strengthen it. Making U.S. fairness markets a cornerstone of the U.S. monetary system, a contributor to our financial success in addition to a supply of monetary safety to U.S. households.
At present, we spotlight among the key knowledge supporting Nasdaq’s proposals to reinvigorate U.S. public fairness markets.
Personal markets rising on the expense of public markets
The steadiness between private and non-private markets has shifted considerably since 2000. Notably:
- The variety of publicly listed firms within the U.S. has fallen by about 36%.
- Personal equity-backed firms (inexperienced line) have grown greater than 475%.
This reveals that there isn’t any lack of entrepreneurs or concepts within the U.S. — simply that fewer new firms are selecting to go public.
Chart 1: There are actually 2.5x as many PE-backed firms as public firms

Personal firms are ready longer and getting greater
Importantly, these aren’t simply firms which might be too small to go public.
There are over 1,400 unicorn firms (with valuations at or above $1 billion) value a mixed $5.1 trillion (chart under) – up from $330 billion a decade in the past. Regardless of the expansion of firms with a valuation of over $1 billion, analysis reveals that solely 26% are publicly listed. This consists of firms which might be value tens of billions of {dollars} and even a whole bunch of billions of {dollars}.
Chart 2: Increasingly unicorn firms are privately held

Public markets assist family wealth, innovation and financial progress
To make sure, non-public and public markets work collectively.
Personal markets typically present better flexibility that early-stage and high-growth firms must scale, whereas public markets ship a well-defined regulatory and liquidity framework that lowers the price of capital and drives accountability useful to broader society.
Nonetheless, there are challenges created by this pattern of extra firms staying non-public, as we spotlight in Nasdaq’s new white paper:
- Family monetary safety: Retail traders miss out on the chance to put money into these firms as public firms. That makes it more durable to safe the retirements of American traders, including to the reliance on social safety.
- Employment progress: Analysis reveals that firms that maintain an preliminary public providing (IPO) see common annual employment progress of 23% of their first three years post-IPO, in comparison with a 7% annual achieve for firms that withdraw their IPO submitting.
- Innovation: Funds from IPOs assist innovation by way of elevated R&D spending, with analysis displaying that public firms make investments about 50% extra in R&D than comparable non-public companies.
- Financial Development: Different analysis reveals that rising public markets additionally boosts financial progress.
Chart 3: Personal unicorns outperform broader public markets indexes

Economics is inflicting the shift
The explanation for this shift away from public markets is economics. Over time, new public firm rules have made being public costlier and fewer enticing.
That’s led to firms ready longer to go public, with the typical age at time of IPO rising from 6.9 years a decade in the past to 10.7 years now.
Chart 4: Common age of an organization at IPO

In the meantime, different rule adjustments have made it simpler and cheaper to entry non-public markets. There’s additionally been a pattern of extra firms selecting to stay non-public or return to non-public possession.
Information reveals that world non-public market AUM is up over 200% since 2013 to $14.5 trillion. The growing availability of personal cash has made it attainable for these firms to remain non-public.
Making public markets extra enticing once more
With public markets taking part in a key position in financial progress, employment, R&D and family wealth, it’s necessary to handle the problems contributing to the decline of public markets.
Nasdaq’s current white paper highlighted a number of commonsense reforms that may assist reinvigorate public markets and, finally, the U.S. economic system.
These embrace:
- Lowering the regulatory burden of going public by scaling disclosure necessities to the scale of the corporate and simplifying quarterly reporting – and even providing semiannual reporting, as was adopted within the U.Okay.
- Modernizing the proxy voting course of by streamlining communication with shareholders and elevating possession thresholds for submitting proposals and the required degree of shareholder assist to resubmit proposals, amongst different adjustments.
- Leveling the taking part in discipline with sensible regulation, like holding audits related and inexpensive, and stopping unproductive litigation.
Reinvigorating public markets can unlock a stronger American economic system
These structural adjustments will assist strengthen U.S. public markets and create economics that encourage extra firms to go and keep public.
Over time, the U.S. fairness market will play an much more necessary position in supporting financial progress and monetary safety for all.