Microsoft's 1986 IPO

On March 13, 1986, Microsoft shook up the financial world, and to some degree, we are still feeling the reverberations from that 40 years later. That was the day of Microsoft’s very successful IPO. The hunt for the next Microsoft began immediately, leading directly to the dotcom bubble of the turn of the century. How big was Microsoft’s IPO? Microsoft’s IPO initially valued company at $21.00 per share. It raised $61 million for the company, and put its market capitalization at $777 million. The price peaked at $35.50 per share before settling to $27.75 at the end of the day. Microsoft expected it to take weeks to reach $27.75. Bill Gates owned 45% of the company’s stock, which meant on March 14, 1986, he was worth almost $350 million. He had not yet turned 31. The next year, he became the youngest person to become a billionaire, before he had turned 32. Why Microsoft waited so long Founded in 1975, Microsoft was an 11-year-old company at the time it went public. They waited so long ... Read full article.