Where Have All The IPOs Gone?

The Facebook IPO is a big story in part because IPOs have gotten much rarer over the past ten years than they were over the twenty years that came before the 2000 NASDAQ crash. What gives? Is it all Sarbanes-Oxley? Is it going to turn around soon? In my latest column I argue that it’s no and no, the fundamentals of the economy have changed so that it makes more sense for mid-sized companies to sell out to giant ones than to go public.