Top IPO Scholar on Unprecedented IPO Wave & Why IPOs Underperform the Market | Jay Ritter

Leading IPO researcher Jay Ritter, widely known as "Mr. IPO" and the director of the IPO Initiative at the University of Florida's Warrington College of Business breaks down the historic 2026 public market landscape. Ritter analyzes the unprecedented potential for a wave of mega-IPOs from tech giants like SpaceX, OpenAI, and Anthropic. He dives into the realities of staggering price-to-sales ratios, warning that while AI offers immense technological promise, eye-watering trillion-dollar valuations leave very little room for error. Ritter also cuts through the hype surrounding retail access to venture capital and private equity, explaining why extra layers of middlemen, "volatility washing," and an evaporating illiquidity premium mean average investors aren't actually missing out on a free lunch. Professor Ritter’s IPO Data: https://site.warrington.ufl.edu/ritter/ipo-data/ Follow Max on X: https://x.com/maxwiethe Follow Other People’s Money on: Apple Podcast https://bit.ly/4e7QJ1M Spotify https://bit.ly/3Yhaazi YouTube https://bit.ly/3C63VXR X https://x.com/opmpod Timestamps: 00:00 Intro 00:58 Meet Mr IPO 01:40 2026 is Unprecedented 02:52 Do IPOs Signal Tops 04:27 How IPO Pricing Works 05:57 SpaceX Valuation Risks 09:26 TAM Hype and Cursor 13:27 2026 Versus Past Waves 16:17 Must Own AI Exposure 19:46 Regulation and Unintended Effects 27:29 Geopolitics and Dual Use 29:10 Will IPO Volume Boom? 32:40 VC/PE = No Free Lunch 35:36 Retail Access Fee Stacking 39:14 Volatility Washing and Perps 49:09 Sentiment and Final Takeaways