public markets: everyone on the record — The Minutes https://minutesof.com/on/public-markets/ Everyone on the record about public markets: 23 verbatim quotes from 5 people, February 2018 to April 2026, in one chronology, each with a timestamp and a… en Sun, 30 Aug 2026 22:33:10 +0000 Paul Atkins: Atkins cites 40 percent decline in public companies over recent decades as rationale for returnin https://minutesof.com/q/16bd61aa-c1d6-458b-9dac-5a2e4f1f4004/ https://minutesof.com/q/16bd61aa-c1d6-458b-9dac-5a2e4f1f4004/ “Presented with a 40 percent decline in public companies over the past few decades, we are summoned not to create more complexity nor reinvent our mandate, but to restore it to its foundation: that is, disclosure of material information.” — Paul Atkins, SEC speeches and statements public markets Paul Atkins: Atkins describes IPOs as invitations for workers and savers to participate in American enterprise https://minutesof.com/q/b310ecf2-ef65-402a-99a3-9dfeb30d8440/ https://minutesof.com/q/b310ecf2-ef65-402a-99a3-9dfeb30d8440/ “Every IPO is an invitation to workers and savers to participate in the prosperity of the next generation of American enterprise.” — Paul Atkins, SEC speeches and statements public markets Paul Atkins: Atkins says public market benefits cannot be re-created privately and aims to extend them to more https://minutesof.com/q/86ee8ea9-ecc0-413a-9adf-00eb7f1c912d/ https://minutesof.com/q/86ee8ea9-ecc0-413a-9adf-00eb7f1c912d/ “benefits that “simply cannot be re-created privately.” 1 This morning, I would like to focus on the Commission’s recent efforts to extend those benefits to a broader range of issuers” — Paul Atkins, SEC speeches and statements public markets Paul Atkins: Atkins says IPOs declined from 4,000 in the 1990s to only 3,200 in the following 25 years. https://minutesof.com/q/c396cfa3-ce40-4241-9ecf-d7c4fa2dcb5a/ https://minutesof.com/q/c396cfa3-ce40-4241-9ecf-d7c4fa2dcb5a/ “During the decade of the 1990s, there were approximately 4,000 IPOs. In the 25 years since then, there have been only 3,200.” — Paul Atkins, SEC speeches and statements public markets Marc Rowan: Rowan argues ten companies now represent nearly 50% of S&P 500, all concentrated on one trend. https://minutesof.com/q/76c51df6-50a3-4891-9850-6a9174cadd05/ https://minutesof.com/q/76c51df6-50a3-4891-9850-6a9174cadd05/ “Have 10 companies today who account for nearly 50% of the S and P 500, and those 10 companies are all levered to one trend.” — Marc Rowan, CNBC Events Thu, 16 Apr 2026 13:25:25 +0000 public markets Marc Rowan: Rowan notes major innovation companies like SpaceX, OpenAI, and Stripe all remain private despite https://minutesof.com/q/9cfd8755-e421-47f3-958c-ab095f5f6e5c/ https://minutesof.com/q/9cfd8755-e421-47f3-958c-ab095f5f6e5c/ “But I'll go through the companies who are creating massive change. SpaceX, Anthropic, OpenAI, Stripe, Cursor, Cognition, Andoril. What do all of them have in common?” — Marc Rowan, CNBC Events Thu, 16 Apr 2026 13:25:25 +0000 public markets Bill Gurley: Gurley notes US public companies have fallen to less than half their peak number. https://minutesof.com/q/cec4ec45-01c9-4ca8-9a67-910b58d8f18e/ https://minutesof.com/q/cec4ec45-01c9-4ca8-9a67-910b58d8f18e/ “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.” — Bill Gurley, Prof G Markets Fri, 27 Mar 2026 11:00:44 +0000 public markets Marc Rowan: Rowan challenges the perception that public markets are safe and private markets risky. https://minutesof.com/q/277bcf60-ecbe-492a-9755-99df1a9e77f3/ https://minutesof.com/q/277bcf60-ecbe-492a-9755-99df1a9e77f3/ “We have a perception that what's public is safe and what's private is risky. But what if we're wrong?” — Marc Rowan, Bloomberg Podcasts Mon, 05 May 2025 14:48:44 +0000 public markets Marc Rowan: Rowan argues equity prices are not low, with average PE in mid-twenties versus historical 16. https://minutesof.com/q/32559c3c-51fa-4cb5-9eb9-31949c173a13/ https://minutesof.com/q/32559c3c-51fa-4cb5-9eb9-31949c173a13/ “I do not believe prices are low. They are lower, but we're still talking about an average PE as a reference in the mid twenties versus 16 over time.” — Marc Rowan, Bloomberg Podcasts Mon, 05 May 2025 14:48:44 +0000 public markets Brad Gerstner: Gerstner earned 100x returns on Amazon in public markets, returns now going to private investor https://minutesof.com/q/4bfaeb57-cf43-4ffb-b8ad-63cfb6e177cc/ https://minutesof.com/q/4bfaeb57-cf43-4ffb-b8ad-63cfb6e177cc/ “So I earned a 100 x return in the public markets. Right? By all accounts, venture capitalists would do back flips for that return, but those returns were going to private market participants.” — Brad Gerstner, Upfront Ventures Thu, 13 Mar 2025 21:33:08 +0000 public markets Marc Rowan: Rowan states public companies halved to 4,000 while 80% of large companies are now private. https://minutesof.com/q/0ff7ae99-25d5-47ce-a5ba-6e5d046f2772/ https://minutesof.com/q/0ff7ae99-25d5-47ce-a5ba-6e5d046f2772/ “We now have 4,000 public companies. People think most of the action is in public markets. 80% of companies over 100,000,000 of revenue and 80% of employment is in private companies.” — Marc Rowan, Yahoo Finance Mon, 06 May 2024 16:23:24 +0000 public markets Marc Rowan: Rowan notes active equity managers failed to beat the market 93% of the time over twenty years. https://minutesof.com/q/ad449d14-354d-4c35-b46f-4f51e67d068f/ https://minutesof.com/q/ad449d14-354d-4c35-b46f-4f51e67d068f/ “Here are people who have spent their whole lives becoming good investors, and they as an industry have failed to beat the market 93% of the time for twenty years.” — Marc Rowan, Yahoo Finance Mon, 06 May 2024 16:23:24 +0000 public markets Bill Gurley: Gurley notes public company count has shrunk by almost half, changing venture landscape. https://minutesof.com/q/182ca37e-9d3e-4dbe-a6f7-5f66cd06a02a/ https://minutesof.com/q/182ca37e-9d3e-4dbe-a6f7-5f66cd06a02a/ “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?” — Bill Gurley, Invest Like the Best Tue, 23 Apr 2024 08:00:00 +0000 public markets Marc Rowan: Rowan says 100% of returns this year came from 10 stocks at 50 PE, which few would actively buy. https://minutesof.com/q/eef74626-e7d3-48c1-8e85-4c58e18ae84c/ https://minutesof.com/q/eef74626-e7d3-48c1-8e85-4c58e18ae84c/ “A 100% of our returns this year are from 10 stocks which constitute 35% of the S and P that traded an average PE of 50.” — Marc Rowan, Bloomberg Podcasts Tue, 05 Dec 2023 19:05:29 +0000 public markets Marc Rowan: Rowan states active management has failed to beat indexes 85% of the time over twenty years and wi https://minutesof.com/q/cb92cec8-5246-496f-90f9-c0d4d1cc950d/ https://minutesof.com/q/cb92cec8-5246-496f-90f9-c0d4d1cc950d/ “If you look at the active management, active management has failed to beat the index 85% of the time for twenty years.” — Marc Rowan, Bloomberg Television Tue, 05 Dec 2023 15:03:34 +0000 public markets Marc Rowan: Rowan says 100% of S&P returns this year came from 10 stocks at 50 PE, constituting 35% of the ind https://minutesof.com/q/44792d43-c148-4c74-bbdb-1095c0017913/ https://minutesof.com/q/44792d43-c148-4c74-bbdb-1095c0017913/ “A 100% of our returns this year are from 10 stocks which constitute 35% of the S and P that traded an average PE of 50.” — Marc Rowan, Bloomberg Television Tue, 05 Dec 2023 15:03:34 +0000 public markets Marc Rowan: Twenty years ago, there was alpha left in publicly traded fixed income markets. Firms like ours of https://minutesof.com/q/36815de4-5af4-406d-ba97-bc86a88bb10d/ https://minutesof.com/q/36815de4-5af4-406d-ba97-bc86a88bb10d/ “Twenty years ago, there was alpha left in publicly traded fixed income markets. Firms like ours offered you a high yield bond account, a levered loan account.” — Marc Rowan, Barron's Thu, 11 May 2023 15:16:29 +0000 public markets Marc Rowan: 2022 was a good opportunity for us to realize that public can be both safe and risky, and private https://minutesof.com/q/9b9b57ae-8a78-4042-b399-df74d123e28e/ https://minutesof.com/q/9b9b57ae-8a78-4042-b399-df74d123e28e/ “2022 was a good opportunity for us to realize that public can be both safe and risky, and private can be both safe and risky. The only difference is a degree of liquidity.” — Marc Rowan, Barron's Thu, 11 May 2023 15:16:29 +0000 public markets Marc Rowan: Rowan reframes public versus private markets as fundamentally about liquidity rather than risk. https://minutesof.com/q/1d4daa1f-225e-4b95-8e27-c5e50630de20/ https://minutesof.com/q/1d4daa1f-225e-4b95-8e27-c5e50630de20/ “We now know public can be risky as well. We now have found out that private can be both safe and risky. What we're talking about is differing degrees of liquidity.” — Marc Rowan, Bloomberg Television Mon, 01 May 2023 16:21:23 +0000 public markets Gavin Baker: Baker says great public equity investors are often wrong more than right, with best batting avera https://minutesof.com/q/a10494fc-232e-4bc1-836c-00bedb6f1417/ https://minutesof.com/q/a10494fc-232e-4bc1-836c-00bedb6f1417/ “They're wrong more than they're right, but because they make more money when they're right, they still have a great track record.” — Gavin Baker, Invest Like the Best Tue, 25 Jan 2022 09:00:00 +0000 public markets Bill Gurley: Gurley argues it is easier to survive downturns as a public company than as a late-stage private https://minutesof.com/q/7560c377-c112-4f22-983f-c9ccc8fc3d73/ https://minutesof.com/q/7560c377-c112-4f22-983f-c9ccc8fc3d73/ “And so oddly, it's easier as a public company than a late stage private company to go through these types of periods.” — Bill Gurley, Invest Like the Best Fri, 13 Mar 2020 09:30:00 +0000 public markets Bill Gurley: Gurley argues that surviving downturns is easier as a public company because IPOs convert complex https://minutesof.com/q/c4f4e35d-94da-41c5-8a0d-6b660bd883fa/ https://minutesof.com/q/c4f4e35d-94da-41c5-8a0d-6b660bd883fa/ “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.” — Bill Gurley, Invest Like the Best Fri, 13 Mar 2020 09:30:00 +0000 public markets Bill Gurley: Gurley believes being public helps companies run better through enforced discipline from smart in https://minutesof.com/q/634d848a-d43f-49fc-a216-1451ff6a620e/ https://minutesof.com/q/634d848a-d43f-49fc-a216-1451ff6a620e/ “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.” — Bill Gurley, Bloomberg Tech Thu, 15 Feb 2018 00:05:18 +0000 public markets