P.E. Vulcan Chess & Postcards from Pity City

Blackstone C.E.O. Steve Schwarzman. Photo: Jim Watson/AFP
William D. Cohan
April 23, 2023

After a long, fallow period, the I.P.O. market appears to be demonstrating some of its own rites of spring: SeatGeek, the event ticket marketplace, quietly filed to go public, following Chia Network, a crypto firm. I’ve been wondering whether this is a new pattern, post-SPAC denouement, or merely an aberration. And, alas, I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s a false bloom, a moment between a post-correction mini-rally and a looming recession that most analysts predict is more likely than not. Capital and credit markets are still tight amid rising interest rates that have cooled the I.P.O. pipeline and pushed many investors into cash or the bond market (it’s been a long time since I could write that).