Policymakers have long worried that the number of listed companies is shrinking, as IPOs become rarer and takeovers, often from private equity, thin the ranks of quoted firms. The United States has halved its listed companies since 2000, raising alarms across developed economies.

The landscape may shift with SpaceX’s historic IPO, valued at over $1.8 trillion, and expectations that AI firms such as OpenAI and Anthropic will follow. Rising data‑centre spending drives demand for equity and debt, while a wave of tech listings is emerging in China, as seen with Moonshot’s planned Hong Kong offering.

Private markets have surged, growing from $500 billion in the early 2000s to $7.6 trillion in 2022, letting firms stay private longer. The UK, despite a vibrant tech sector, lags as domestic investors cut equity exposure and listing rules are relaxed, yet its market remains less buoyant than the US.

Experts say deregulation misdiagnoses the issue; Harvard scholars Mark Roe and Charles Wang note that US market cap and profits have risen, while concentration and lax competition policy drive de‑equitisation. The UK’s falling market‑to‑GDP ratio and loss of tech IPOs to New York suggest tax and planning reforms, not deregulation, should guide policy, echoing Keynes that enterprise builds wealth.