An IPO is the abbreviation for an initial public offering.

When a privately owned company lists its shares on a stock exchange, making them available for purchase by the general public this is called and Intial Public Offering or IPO for short.

It is a mistake to think and IPO will give a huge initial return on investment, although some do, most should be looked at as a short to mid term investment with a steady rise in share prices as the company grows and profits from the IPO

An IPO may be the first time the general public can buy shares in a company, but it’s important to understand that one of the purposes of an initial public offering is to let early investors in the company cash out their investments.

Investing at the IPO stage of a company is a high risk investment.