Boring companies are going public again, strong signal for 2026 IPOs: Axios' Primack
December 17, 2025 • 2m 1s
? (Reporter)
00:00.070
turn
to
dan
primack
he's
the
business
editor
at
axios
who
brought
our
attention
to
the
boring
IPO
boom
last
week
dan
i'm
does
it
become
much
more
buzzy
next
year
Dan Primack (Business Editor)
00:08.990
i
think
so
and
i
think
as
leslie
said
i
think
you're
going
to
see
more
of
these
deals
i
mean
it's
worth
noting
medline
was
kind
of
exceptional
in
private
equity
terms
anyway
right
this
was
a
deal
that
was
done
in
two
thousand
twenty
one
it
was
a
return
of
so-called
club
deals
i
Dan Primack (Business Editor)
00:20.310
believe
it's
the
largest
healthcare
leveraged
buyout
ever
so
it's
a
very
large
deal
and
back
then
it
was
a
really
complicated
deal
for
the
private
equity
firms
to
do
because
you
were
still
coming
often
almost
in
the
middle
of
the
pandemic
and
they
had
to
figure
out
how
much
of
Dan Primack (Business Editor)
00:33.750
the
companies
revenue
how
much
of
its
earnings
were
pandemic
related
and
how
much
would
be
sustainable
and
and
what
they've
done
since
is
really
grow
it
internationally
? (Reporter)
00:40.790
now
that
this
has
gone
out
successfully
what's
it
going
to
mean
for
the
rest
of
the
kind
of
private
equity
space
in
those
pipelines
Dan Primack (Business Editor)
00:47.710
i
mean
private
equity
firms
should
be
calling
their
bankers
right
this
this
was
a
really
big
one
this
was
a
hard
one
to
digest
there
was
never
really
a
strategic
acquire
that
would
make
sense
for
medline
it
was
just
too
big
given
what
it
does
so
look
private
equity
firms
should
Dan Primack (Business Editor)
01:00.110
be
ramping
up
for
Q
one
the
the
only
caveat
i
give
to
that
is
i
i
think
probably
if
you
go
into
the
CNBC
archives
you
and
i
probably
had
a
conversation
last
november
last
december
about
how
first
should
be
doing
the
same
thing
and
they
? (Reporter)
01:12.150
didn't
no
and
then
we
come
out
of
the
gates
and
sometimes
the
market
has
a
tough
time
finding
its
footing
in
Q
one
and
then
we
have
to
kind
of
wait
all
over
again
you
also
noted
that
wealthfront
which
was
a
little
while
ago
what
is
it
earlier
this
week
last
week
Dan Primack (Business Editor)
01:23.350
last
week
thank
? (Reporter)
01:24.190
you
had
nowhere
near
the
five
hundred
million
dollar
in
annual
revenue
that
you've
heard
VCS
argue
as
the
new
IPO
threshold
as
these
deals
kind
of
get
bigger
and
bigger
so
maybe
it
could
also
be
the
return
of
the
small
deal
and
everyone
just
wants
their
hands
on
a
piece
of
AI
? (Reporter)
01:35.350
they're
sick
of
all
this
stuff
Dan Primack (Business Editor)
01:37.150
they
are
well
friend
again
is
important
it
was
it's
an
old
company
right
for
for
it's
still
viewed
as
a
startup
but
i
think
it's
seventeen
years
old
at
this
point
it
didn't
have
the
top
line
numbers
and
or
the
growth
metrics
that
these
companies
supposedly
need
to
have
to
go
Dan Primack (Business Editor)
01:50.750
public
it
hasn't
traded
well
in
the
aftermarkets
been
mostly
flat
a
little
bit
down
but
it
got
out
and
the
argument
has
been
we
can't
find
public
market
investors
for
these
companies
wealthfront
was
able
to
do
it
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