rIPOff

In the equity markets it’s always been said that the dumbest money is in the public markets.

The outcome of this? IPOs where the price per share is way higher than in any private form of capital raising.

This implies that public markets aren’t smart enough to properly assess risk. This is in fact the case despite all the efforts to force companies to properly disclose all risk factors.

Public markets, on the subject of business risk, are in fact even dumber than patent attorneys that are senior associates and principals. Which is saying something.

Current equity partners in Australian patent attorney firms are cashing out via IPOs ahead of a situation where they can’t sell their shares, at retirement, to senior associates at an acceptable price. Or any price.

What the senior associates vaguely recognise is that their market is shrinking in both size and profitability.

The public market seems to have no idea of this.