Topic summary
Initial Public Offerings
Extracted from the Wikipedia article Initial public offering.
History
The earliest form of a company which issued public shares was the case of the publicani during the Roman Republic, although this claim is not shared by all modern scholars. Like modern joint-stock companies, the publicani were legal bodies independent of their members whose ownership was divided into shares, or parts. There is evidence that these shares were sold to public investors and traded in a type of over-the-counter market in the Forum, near the Temple of Castor and Pollux. The shares fluctuated in value, encouraging the activity of speculators, or quaestors. Mere evidence remains of the prices for which parts were sold, the nature of initial public offerings, or a description of stock market behavior. Publicani lost favor with the fall of the Republic and the rise of the Empire.