New York Stock Exchange President Lynn Martin expects a surge of delayed IPOs to hit the market early next year after a series of disruptions pushed companies to pause their listing plans.
IPO Momentum Rebounds After A Year Of Unexpected Market Shocks
On Friday, Martin said 2026 is shaping up to be a breakout year for public offerings, with January and the first quarter expected to be especially active.
Speaking on TBPN, Martin noted that while the year had started strongly, several major events abruptly froze the IPO window.
"The year was going really well," she said, but added that early disruptions — including events surrounding “Liberation Day” caused the market to briefly shut down.
That pause was followed by a temporary government shutdown that also halted trading, forcing companies to shift their plans.
"A variety of our deals have now pushed into January," she said. "It's going to be a busy January. We have a really busy Q1."
Midterm Election Volatility Could Temporarily Close The Window Again
However, Martin cautioned that the strong start to 2026 may not last uninterrupted. With midterm elections scheduled for later in the year, she said companies typically avoid going public during periods of political uncertainty.
"Anytime you have a large group of elections or a monumental election… you're not gonna want to go just before because you just don't know what's going to happen around that election period," Martin said.
Earlier this week, it was reported that Anthropic — the AI startup behind the Claude chatbot and backed by Alphabet Inc.'s (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Google and Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) — is gearing up for a possible IPO in 2026.
Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT)-backed OpenAI, one of Anthropic's biggest competitors, is also gearing up for what could become one of the largest IPOs in history, with a potential valuation reaching $1 trillion.
The company is laying the foundation for a public debut and could file with securities regulators as early as the second half of 2026.
Elon Musk's SpaceX has also reportedly notified investors that it is aiming for a full-company IPO, including Starlink, in late 2026, while continuing share sales that could value the company at $800 billion.
Benzinga's Edge Stock Rankings show that MSFT is trending downward in the short and medium term but is projected to rise over the long term, with additional performance insights available here.
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Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
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