2025-12-23
8 分钟The Economist.
Hi, this is Ethan Wu, co-host of Money Talks, our business and finance podcast.
Welcome to Editor's Picks.
We've handpicked an article we recommend from the most recent edition of The Economist.
I hope you enjoy it.
A decade or so ago,
before venture capitalists and buyout barons began whipping out their checkbooks,
going public was the obvious choice for ambitious businesses.
A stock market listing offered start-ups both cash,
courtesy of deep pools of capital and cachet conferred by a willingness to subject themselves to the scrutiny of millions of investors.
It was possible to attain a $100 billion plus valuation
while staying out of the stock market spotlight.
Lidl may have pulled it off with cheap groceries, Mars with confectionery,
Cargill peddling the sort of stuff that goes into Mars bars,
Gulf and Chinese natural resource firms extracting less digestible commodities.
Vitol and Trafigura trading these.
But if it was explosive growth you were after,
the real rocket fuel was to be found in public markets.
Maybe it still is.
Reports have recently surfaced that SpaceX, a rocketry and satellite firm founded by Elon Musk,