Fewer Companies Are Going Public—And What Policymakers Can Do About It

• The U.S. public company count has fallen nearly 25% since 2000—from roughly 7,200 to 5,532—even as total market value has grown more than fivefold, to nearly $77 trillion.
• SIFMA supports policy proposals that would expand IPO (initial public offering) access and simplify issuer requirements.

Robust public markets are central to American capital formation, job creation, and wealth building, but the long-term decline in the number of U.S. public companies shows that strength can’t be taken for granted. SIFMA President and CEO Kenneth E. Bentsen, Jr. discussed proposals aimed at reversing that decline in testimony before the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs on August 6.

A Decline in the number of Listed Companies

While the market value of U.S.-listed equities has climbed from about $15 trillion in 2000 to nearly $77 trillion by the end of the second quarter of 2026, the number of publicly listed companies has moved in the opposite direction, falling from roughly 7,200 to 5,532 over the same period. IPO activity has slowed as well—the U.S. averaged 459 IPOs annually in the 1990s, compared with just 196 per year since 2020. The data also shows that existing public companies have also reduced reliance on follow-on equity offerings for capital raising, with aggregate proceeds falling from roughly $876 billion (five years ending 2015) to $733 billion (five years ending 2025).

SIFMA believes these trends have been caused by  a mix of factors, including a greater ability of companies to finance growth in the private markets and the cumulative cost of public company disclosure, compliance, and reporting obligations.

Building on the JOBS Act

There is ample evidence that the JOBS Act has expanded access to the public capital markets for smaller companies by reducing the regulatory burdens on smaller companies seeking to go public.  Since the passage of the JOBS Act in 2012, the average number of companies per year going public with listings below $50M has nearly doubled to 54.  More broadly, emerging growth companies (EGCs) have raised almost $440B across more than 2,100 offerings during this time.

This data indicates that Congressional action to reduce the burdens on companies going public can result in more companies going public.  Consistent with this view, SIFMA  supports the House-passed INVEST Act, which is designed to facilitate capital formation and provide new investment options for investors and retirement plans.

SIFMA also supports two recent SEC rulemakings designed to streamline and enhance capital formation,  the SEC’s Registered Offering Reform proposal and its Filer Status proposal. The Registered Offering Reform proposal would, among other things, significantly expand the number of companies eligible to utilize the Commission’s flexible shelf registration process, as well as certain benefits currently available only to so-called “well-known seasoned issuers” (WKSIs), which generally are very large public companies. The SEC’s Filer Status proposal would simplify the Commission’s existing issuer classification framework by consolidating public companies into just two categories: large, accelerated filers and non-accelerated filers.  Importantly, the proposal would extend scaled disclosure accommodations currently available to EGCs to all non-accelerated filers, a group the SEC estimates represents approximately 80.8% of all public companies.

As noted in our comment letter, we strongly support both the Registered Offering Reform and Filer Status proposals and encourage the Commission to adopt targeted revisions to the Registered Offering Reform proposal that would further advance capital formation and strengthen incentives for companies to go and stay public.  Similarly, SIFMA also supports SEC and FINRA (Financial Industry Regulatory Authority) initiatives to expand issuer research coverage, particularly for small and mid-sized companies, because greater visibility can improve liquidity and investor interest in such companies.

Additional Priorities: Retirement Parity, Private Market Access, and Disclosure Modernization

Beyond public market reforms, SIFMA in the testimony urged Congress and the SEC to consider several additional measures:

• Retirement plan parity: SIFMA supports the Retirement Fairness for Charities and Educational Institutions Act, which would give 403(b) plan participants access to investment vehicles already available to 401(k) and Thrift Savings Plan savers.
• Greater access to private markets: SIFMA backs the Increasing Investor Opportunities Act, which would codify the ability of closed-end funds to invest in private funds, extending professionally managed, regulated exposure to private markets for retail investors.
• BDC disclosure modernization: SIFMA supports the Access to Small Business Investor Capital Act to improve the accuracy of fee and expense disclosures tied to BDC investments.
• Electronic delivery by default: SIFMA has long supported legislative and regulatory reforms that would establish electronic delivery as the default method for delivering required investor communications and disclosures to customers.  Making such a change would reduce unnecessary costs, improve the accessibility and usability of disclosures, and enhance the efficiency of capital markets while preserving investors’ ability to opt for paper delivery.

Looking Ahead

The strength of U.S. capital markets cannot be taken for granted. Recent legislative and regulatory proposals mark meaningful progress toward keeping the costs of going—and staying—public appropriately calibrated. SIFMA stands ready to work with Congress, the SEC, and other policymakers to advance reforms that promote capital formation, expand investment opportunities, and preserve strong investor protections.

Read Ken Bentsen’s full written testimony here.