NYSE President Lynn Martin Talks IPOs Amid Geopolitical Unrest

Summary

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Bloomberg Talks: NYSE President Lynn Martin Talks IPOs Amid Geopolitical Unrest

Date: March 3, 2026
Guests: Lynn Martin (President, NYSE)
Theme: Navigating IPOs and public markets in an era of geopolitical and market uncertainty

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Episode Overview

In this Bloomberg Talks episode, NYSE President Lynn Martin sits down with Bloomberg’s panel to discuss the current state of U.S. IPOs amid increasing geopolitical unrest, evolving regulations, and the rise of deep private capital markets. The conversation explores the drivers and deterrents of initial public offerings, the changing narrative around public versus private markets, quarterly reporting's pros and cons, and emerging financial technologies such as prediction markets.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Impact of Geopolitical Unrest on IPOs

• Resilience of Public Markets:
  • Lynn Martin downplays the notion that current geopolitical tensions are dramatically halting IPO aspirations.
  • She points to past years of volatility, highlighting successful IPOs like Reddit as examples of U.S. markets’ enduring appeal and capacity for capital formation.
  • Quote:

    “There’s always going to be geopolitical events happening... if you're a good company, you can always go public. …You look at a company like Reddit… it’s done extraordinarily well.” — Lynn Martin [00:58]

2. Barriers to Going Public

• Primary Deterrents:
  • The discussion shifts from geopolitical factors to regulatory burdens as core IPO obstacles, citing litigation risk, complex disclosure frameworks, and the need for shareholder and proxy reform.
  • Quote:

    “The thing that makes me want to pull my hair out is... the narrative around what we could do to fix the fact that companies don’t necessarily see a quick exit in the public markets... It is why more and more companies are looking towards the US as the most desirable geography from a capital formation standpoint.” — Lynn Martin [02:08]

3. Extended Private Market Life — Blessing or Curse?

• Advantages of Staying Private Longer:
  • Martin strongly supports allowing companies to remain private for longer, noting that it typically results in healthier, more mature, and profitable public debuts.
  • Quote:

    “Companies being private for longer, that’s a great thing... when they come out to market, they have refined their strategy, they have a very clear path towards profitability or they're already profitable and they're ready to take that next step…” — Lynn Martin [03:29]

4. Quarterly Reporting — Necessary Transparency or Outdated Burden?

• Debate on Transparency vs. Flexibility:

  • The conversation unpacks whether ending quarterly reports could benefit companies or erode market transparency.

  • Martin sees both sides, suggesting that newly public companies could delay their entry into the quarterly cycle without sacrificing investor confidence.

  • Notable exchange:

    “It’s a bit of a two edged sword because what does eliminating quarterly reporting necessarily mean? You don’t want to give people less transparency around financials.” — Lynn Martin [04:11]

  • Panelists echo the importance of transparency to U.S. market’s esteem:

    “US market, it’s deep, it’s liquid, it’s incredibly transparent.” — Bloomberg Panelist [05:32]

5. Emergence and Impact of Prediction Markets

• NYSE’s Strategic Investment:

  • Lynn Martin shares insights on NYSE’s partnership and $1B investment in Poly Market, focusing on the value of prediction markets for real-time data and market sentiment—particularly in response to major events.

  • She recounts election night as a “double click moment” on the influence these markets now have on traditional assets.

  • Quote:

    “The partnership’s going incredibly well… it was really focused more on the data side and giving transparency, particularly when you look at how the data is impacting your more traditional markets.” — Lynn Martin [06:30] “I saw the market starting to spike up... and someone said, Poly just called the election for President Trump. That was more like a double click moment. Like, oh, interesting that the prediction markets are influencing what is occurring in your more traditional markets.” [07:09]

  • Focus Beyond Sports:

    • NYSE’s interest in Poly is mainly for geopolitical and market data, rather than for sports betting.

      “Poly, our interest in Poly was because it wasn’t as focused on the sports… more focused on the geopolitical.” — Lynn Martin [08:12]

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• “There’s always going to be geopolitical events happening... if you're a good company, you can always go public.” — Lynn Martin [00:58]
• “It's a bit of a two edged sword because what does eliminating quarterly reporting necessarily mean? You don’t want to give people less transparency...” — Lynn Martin [04:11]
• “Companies being private for longer, that’s a great thing... when they come out to market, they have refined their strategy…” — Lynn Martin [03:29]
• “Poly just called the election for President Trump. …That was a double click moment. Like, oh, interesting that the prediction markets are influencing what is occurring in your more traditional markets.” — Lynn Martin [07:09]

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• [00:58] — Geopolitical unrest’s true impact on IPOs; Reddit as example
• [02:08] — Regulatory and litigation burdens as main IPO deterrents
• [03:29] — Value of companies staying private for longer
• [04:11] — Debate on ending quarterly reporting
• [06:30] — NYSE’s partnership with Poly Market; prediction markets’ influence
• [07:09] — Anecdote of prediction markets calling an election, affecting S&P futures

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Conclusion

This episode paints a nuanced picture of today’s IPO landscape. While headline risks abound, Lynn Martin asserts the resilience and appeal of U.S. capital markets, advocates for reforms to reduce IPO friction, and embraces the growing intersection of alternative market data with traditional investing. The discussion remains pragmatic yet optimistic, with a forward-looking view on how transparency, regulation, and innovation continue to shape the future of public markets.

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Transcript

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[Bloomberg Host]

Bloomberg Audio Studios Podcasts Radio news

[Bloomberg Interviewer]

Lynn Martin is with us. She's president of the New York Stock Exchange. She joins us here at Bloomberg Invest in Downtown Manhattan. It's interesting because it seems like there's been this sudden change in sentiment. We saw an IPO pulled this week already. Is this conflict enough to materially change how companies are thinking about IPOing?

[Lynn Martin]

I don't think so. I mean, there's always going to be geopolitical events happening, and the political framework is always going to continue to evolve. And if you're a good company, you can always go public. I mean, you look at the volatility we saw in 2022, 2023, 2024, we had some amazing companies go public and do really well, raise a ton of capital to fund their operations, to build R and D capabilities, and they're trading at levels that are multiples of where they ipo. You look at a company like Reddit, for example, that IPO'd around this time in 2024, it's done extraordinarily well. So I think companies need to be mindful of how anything that's occurring on the geopolitical landscape is going to affect their businesses in the short term, medium term.

[Bloomberg Panelist]

What's. What's more difficult land, or what's the thing that kind of makes you kind of want to pull your hair out? Is it the geopolitical. Is it stuff out of Washington, or is it the constant and increasing growth of private markets that allow companies to stay private longer? Like, it's pretty staggering.

[Lynn Martin]

You know, I think the thing that makes me want to pull my hair out is, you know, the narrative around what we could do to fix the fact that companies don't necessarily see a quick exit in the public markets. If you take a couple of steps back, our public markets are the envy of the world. You look at the amount of capital that gets raised there, secondaries, IPOs, whatever the case may be. It's extraordinary. It is why more and more companies are looking towards the US as the most desirable geography from a capital formation standpoint. When you think about why a company isn't going public. A lot of times it is. The areas that Chair Atkins covered In his Make IPOs Great Again speech, simpler disclosure frameworks, looking at mitigating some of the litigation risks that face public companies, those types of things, significant shareholder reform, proxy reform, things of that nature. That's really what keeps companies off to the sidelines.

[Bloomberg Panelist]

Is there something that Lynn, to be said that by having though a pretty deep private market and allowing companies to stay private a little bit longer, that when they finally go public, they're a much healthier company?

[Lynn Martin]

Absolutely, Absolutely. I've been saying this for years. Companies being private for longer, that's a great thing. Think because to your point, when they come out to market, they have refined their strategy, they have a very clear path towards profitability or they're already profitable and they're ready to take that next step in diversification of shareholders.

[Bloomberg Interviewer]

What about ending quarterly reporting? Does that, does that prevent blasphemy? Well, I mean the president pushed for that.

[Bloomberg Host]

Yeah, I know, I know.

[Bloomberg Interviewer]

The SEC chair is looking to fast track it is. What would that do in your view?

[Lynn Martin]

It's a bit of a two edged sword because what does eliminating quarterly reporting necessarily mean? You don't want to give people less transparency around financials.

[Bloomberg Interviewer]

Oh, we, we hear you there. That's like our job.

[Lynn Martin]

But if you're a newly public company, should you have to report your first earnings call 45 days, within 45 days after you've IPO'd, you've just given investors a very clear forward guidance and a clear look at your financial what really changed over those 45 days. So there, I think there's probably a path forward that makes it less punitive but doesn't sacrifice the transparency. And potentially something we've advocated for is if you're a newly public company, maybe you don't fall into the quarterly reporting cycle immediately.

[Bloomberg Interviewer]

So it sounds like you are a fan of quarterly reports. I am. And I think I don't want to speak for you, Carol.

[Bloomberg Host]

I do.

[Bloomberg Panelist]

I mean, you know, I, I often think about how it sometimes is frustrating for companies because you know, look at the AI build out or different things that might be transformative or are transformative that in order to spend money it's going to impact you, you know, in terms of your balance sheet. So where do we kind of give some leeway for people to do this?

[Lynn Martin]

Right.

[Bloomberg Panelist]

But I also do think we have seen things go wrong. And so I love, like you say, the US market, it's deep, it's liquid, it's incredibly Transparent.

[Bloomberg Interviewer]

And that's why it's the envy of the world.

[Bloomberg Panelist]

It's the envy of the world because I think of that.

[Lynn Martin]

Right. But a silver bullet is not necessarily, okay, decrease the amount of transparency you're given to investors. Although I do think there is a role for less, less frequent reporting for the newly public companies. Then also, what are you reporting? How are you reporting it? And does it look like a quarterly earnings call or does it look like just a simple financial update?

[Bloomberg Interviewer]

Can we talk prediction markets?

[Bloomberg Host]

Please do.

[Bloomberg Interviewer]

Okay, so the Nasdaq, NASDAQ is working on. Yes. No contracts. We saw this news break yesterday. Our colleague Cat Doherty reporting this. You have a polymarket investment.

[Lynn Martin]

Yep.

[Bloomberg Interviewer]

Give us an update on how that partnership is going. And, and I'm curious if you would consider just doing prediction markets yourself.

[Lynn Martin]

Yeah. I mean if there's a regulatory framework that allows for us to do it, we absolutely would. Would look at that as an opportunity. But our. To your question, your initial question is our investment in Poly Market. The partnership's going incredibly well. We announced an investment in poly market, about $1 billion last fall. It was really focused more on the data side and giving transparency, particularly when you look at how the data is impacting your more traditional markets. Great example is, which I love to tell people is I was on the floor on election night and I remember looking up and you've been to the New York Stock Exchange. You see all the technology and market data that is, that is broadcast every day from there. And I saw the market starting to spike up. I said, well, what just happened? The S and P futures in particular started to spike up. I said, what just happened? And someone said, Polly just called the election for President Trump. And that was more like a double click moment. Like, oh, interesting that the prediction markets are influencing what is occurring in your more traditional markets. You look at everything that's gone on this past weekend. The Strait of Hormuz, which we've all been focused on, how is that impacting energy markets? Our parent company is the leader in energy futures contracts. So what you see on polymarket around news and sentiment around the Strait of Hormuz is impacting what happens in our energy market.

[Bloomberg Host]

Just got about 30 seconds.

[Bloomberg Panelist]

Has become though more than just there's a lot of sports and sports gambling that still happens on these, these marketplaces. Does it change? How does it change? How quickly does it change?

[Lynn Martin]

So Poly, our interest in Poly was because it wasn't as focused on the sports. Beta market is more focused on the geopolitical. They were a little bit different when you look at the markets that they had operated. Okay.

[Bloomberg Panelist]

So that's not something.

[Lynn Martin]

Yeah. Okay.

[Bloomberg Panelist]

That you're, that you're too worried about or concerned about.

[Bloomberg Host]

Lynn, good stuff. Thank you.

[Lynn Martin]

So thanks for having me.

[Bloomberg Panelist]

Lynn Martin, president of the New York Stock Exchange, joining us here at Bloomberg Invest.

[Bloomberg Host]

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