An initial public offering, more commonly known as an IPO, is an event where a company becomes public and can sell its shares in the stock market. By allowing investors to purchase the shares of a company, an IPO is able to provide companies with additional capital for their operations. While the main offering occurs in a single day, an IPO is more than just an event; it is a process that takes time to complete. Many companies have begun the IPO process, built a lot of anticipation around the initial event, but have not been able to complete the process due to complications along the way. Despite this, it is very exciting news to learn that a company is going public. These are a few potential IPOs that may occur during 2020.
Airbnb
Airbnb has become very popular since its debut in 2008. Originally developed as a method for two roommates to afford their rent bill, Airbnb has grown into a multi-billion dollar business. The founders of Airbnb, Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia, recently announced that the company would be going public in 2020.
Ant Financial
Ant Financial is a financial technology company that operates throughout China. The company is an affiliate to the e-commerce giant, Alibaba. As can be expected from the partnership, Ant Financial is responsible for Alibaba’s popular payment service, Alipay. There isn’t a guarantee that Ant Financial will have an IPO in 2020, but the company has been entertaining the idea since 2018.
Gitlab
Gitlab is a popular application among the software development community. A large variety of technologically-advanced companies, like IBM and NASA, utilize Gitlab to carry out their daily operations. While the company already released share options to private investors in 2015, Gitlab is expecting to have its public offering on November 18, 2020.
Saudi Aramco
Saudi Aramco is a company that faced issues with their first initial public offering. Scheduled to go public in 2018, Saudi Aramco is expected to be worth over $1 trillion. The company is the largest oil company in the world. There were a few obstacles that delayed the IPO of Saudi Aramco, but the company is expected to become a publicly-traded company in 2020.