IPO Mania Sweeps Over Robinhood Crowd and Stokes a 111% Rally
- Airbnb and C3.ai more than doubled in their public debuts
- Mom and pop investors are helping fuel the buying frenzy
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An interesting thing keeps happening in the American stock market. Lately, when ownership of young companies passes from the institutions who nurtured them into the much broader arms of the investing public, their valuations double.
It happens fast. After its price was set with professional fund managers the night before, food-delivery service DoorDash Inc. surged 86% in its public debut Wednesday. Software firm C3.ai Inc. jumped 120%. Airbnb Inc. more than doubled a day later, the home-rental company seeing its value surpass $100 billion. The 2020 return in an index of IPO stocks? 111%.