The risky world of private assets opens up to retail investors

This was supposed to be the year when initial public offerings (IPOs) came roaring back. Late in 2024 stockmarkets were hitting all-time highs and a cluster of privately owned superstars, with valuations in the tens or hundreds of billions of dollars, were preparing to go public. But now the market is frozen. As the world’s trading system disintegrates before bosses’ eyes, deals of all sorts, whether IPOs or mergers, have ground to a halt.