This paper investigates whether prospect theory (PT) or a preference for lottery-like gains on stocks can explain the peculiarities of IPO returns in China. Chinese IPOs offer investors two potential lottery-like gains. One is potentially huge first day returns as Chinese issuers leave more...

This paper employs quiet-period media tone as a proxy for investor sentiment in the IPO market and investigates its impact on primary-market demand and on short and long-run IPO performance. Using a sample of 1,068 book-built IPOs, it finds that pre-IPO quiet period media pessimism lowers...

Chinese IPOs offer investors two potential lottery-like gains. One is huge first day returns as Chinese issuers leave more money on the table than other issuers and the other is that a particular IPO may go on to become the next Alibaba in the long run. Using a sample of 862 book-built Chinese...

We read all newspaper articles to measure the pre-IPO media tone for 1,068 Chinese book-built IPOs issued from 2005–2013. We document significant and robust evidence that media tone is related to high IPO first-day returns and low long-run abnormal returns. One positive newspaper article can...