Suits & Sayings: The IPO Folklore

Employees at this famous company have heard about its fabled IPO for so long that it resembles corporate folklore. With no liquidity in sight, several mid-to-senior executives are reportedly leaving for rivals offering fatter pay and ESOPs with a clearer path to actual money. Word is, the top brass has warned headquarters abroad that some liquidity may be needed to keep frustration and attrition in check. The US, however, is waiting for a crucial law to change, which could substantially lift the company’s valuation. Just the little thing that the said law almost cast in stone. Several governments have toyed with changing it; one did, but imposed conditions so onerous that foreign players stayed away. For employees, IPO may increasingly mean Indefinitely Postponed Offering, not quite the flip they were hoping for.

(For more on our weekly roundup of wackiest whispers and murmurs in corporate corridors & policy parlours, pick up today's edition of The Economic Times newspaper)