This study addresses the three main issues related to the underperformance of initial public offerings (IPOs), reported in prior studies. Examines whether venture capitalists affect the long-run performance of newly public firms, investigates the effects of using different benchmarks and...

We investigate the robustness of the long-run underperformance of initial public offering (IPO) and seasoned equity offering (SEO) firms from 1975-1992. The conclusion that issuer underperformance is unique is questioned by our results. We find that underperformance is largely concentrated in...

This paper explores the role of investment banks and lock-up provisions in the market for new equity issues. In a sample of 2,794 IPOs, we test three potential explanations for the existence of lock-ups: (i) lock-ups serve as a signal of firm quality; (ii) lock-ups are a commitment device to...

We investigate the robustness of the long-term underperformance of initial public offering (IPO) and seasoned equity offering (SEO) firms from 1975-1992. The conclusion that issuer underperformance is unique is questioned by our results. We find that underperformance is largely concentrated in...

We investigate the long-run underperformance of recent initial public offering (IPO) firms in a sample of 934 venture-backed IPOs from 1972-1992 and 3,407 nonventure-backed IPOs from 1975-1992. We find that venture-backed IPOs outperform nonventure-backed IPOs using equal- weighted returns....

This paper explores the role of investment bankers and lock-up provisions in the market for new equity issues. In a sample of 1,948 IPOs, we find support for the notion that lock-ups serve as commitment mechanisms at the time of the IPO. Insiders of firms that are associated with greater...