[TheOtherHobbes]

Because for Wall St capitalism, dominance is the product.

Which is why steady-but-slow niche businesses don't get this kind of attention, even if they have better long-term prospects.

The product being sold at IPO is the promise of dominance of a market - because that implies a whole set of predictable relationships with investors, employees, and customers.

The product as sold to customers - whatever that is - is almost irrelevant.

A successful IPO is a convincing statement of political intent. We has almost managed that - but not quite enough to get it over the line.

[sweeneyrod]

That's only true for tech companies, and companies like WeWork that brand themselves as tech companies in order to get investors to value them as such. Aramco aren't IPOing with a promise to someday sell all the oil in the world, they're content with merely a lot.