IPO

An Initial Public Offering is the first time a company sells shares directly to public investors, moving from privately owned to publicly traded on a stock exchange. It's usually how early investors and founders cash out some of their stake, and how the company raises a large chunk of money in one go. The first day of trading, when the market decides in real time whether the IPO price was too high, too low, or about right, tends to generate outsized headlines regardless of what the company actually does.