Gurley argues Apple built all its market cap in public markets without board control, countering short-termism claims.
“Apple built all its market cap in the public market. And they did not have a control position on the board.”
Gurley believes being public helps companies run better through enforced discipline from smart investors.
“I believe strongly that I think is less well understood is that being public actually helps the companies run better. It's an enforced discipline.”
Gurley argues it is easier to survive downturns as a public company than as a late-stage private company.
“And so oddly, it's easier as a public company than a late stage private company to go through these types of periods.”
Gurley argues that surviving downturns is easier as a public company because IPOs convert complex structures to common stock.
“And it turns out that surviving down periods is a lot easier as a public company than a private company because you've converted all that away.”
Gurley cites Priceline returning 120x from a billion dollar public market entry as precedent for AI winners.
“Investing you know, we have Bob Mylot on last week investing in Priceline at a billion dollars. That was a 120 x in the public markets.”
Gurley notes public company count has shrunk by almost half, changing venture landscape.
“the number of public companies has shrunk dramatically. And Michael's written about this, but we've gone, I think, almost half. Is that right, Michael?”
Gurley notes US public companies have fallen to less than half their peak number.
“So the number of public companies in The US is less than half of peak. And so we've really had a fall off in the number of companies that are actually public.”