President of NYSE Group and Chair of ICE Fixed Income & Data Services, Intercontinental Exchange Inc
NYSE President Lynn Martin discusses the 2026 IPO landscape with CNBC’s Sara Eisen
Lynn Martin, NYSE president, joins CNBC's Sara Eisen to discuss the IPO landscape for 2026.
About Lynn Martin
Lynn Martin, President of the NYSE Group, discussed the role of public markets in funding AI and other technological revolutions, stating that "the public markets are the only markets to generate the type of capital for the medium to long term on a consistent basis that is required for every revolution." She added that a healthy public market requires a healthy private market, as private incubation stages feed into public offerings. Martin also commented on the Trump administration's investment accounts for young people, saying they are "great from two perspectives," promoting financial literacy and creating a generation with "a stake in America." Martin questioned rule changes made by the Nasdaq to attract a listing from SpaceX, saying that "market integrity is not something that is a competitive dynamic" and that some of the rules are "questionable." She emphasized that protecting investors, particularly retail investors, is the NYSE's priority. Martin noted that the NYSE has seen a strong year for IPOs across multiple sectors, including industrials, energy, and consumer names, and that the exchange has "no intention of leaving New York City."
Transcript (23 segments)
F
Frank0:00
Good morning, Frank, and good to see you. Yeah, happy to kick off the Davos coverage here with a very familiar face. All the world's business leaders are here, as is Lynn Martin, president of the New York Stock Exchange.
L
Lynn Martin0:10
It's good to see you here and everybody. You know, it's early 2026. A lot's happened.
F
Frank0:16
Oh, yes, it has. In the world and in the markets. But it is a good opportunity to talk about the outlook. So, what do you see for capital markets activity, IPO activity as you look at the pipeline and what's ahead of us?
L
Lynn Martin0:28
We think 2026 is going to be a super cycle in terms of IPO activity. We're seeing a tremendous amount of companies who are at the one yard line, at the starting gate, ready to flip public, ready to go public. I think you're really going to see that start to accelerate towards the back end of Q1 into Q2. But we do have some companies that are on the road at the moment, which we're incredibly excited about. So, it's going to be busy at 11 Wall, at our home away from home.
F
Frank0:59
But does that include the mega IPOs? You know, OpenAI, Anthropic, SpaceX also waiting in the wings.
L
Lynn Martin1:05
Yeah, I think we'll see. We'll see what 2026 means for them. They're going to probably be a bit more selective about when they go out, particularly given the capital needs, the size of the capital raises that all of those three companies are talking about embarking upon. I think they're going to take a measured approach and look to see what markets are telling them before it's a 2026 story.
F
Frank1:33
You said super cycle. Do the geopolitics make companies nervous about going public because it's been especially busy on that front. Venezuela, Iran, now Greenland, and potentially more tariffs here. Red flags for going public.
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Lynn Martin1:49
It's been an active 2026 on the geopolitical side as well. I think the US markets are incredibly resilient though. You think about the news that has come out over the last two weeks, a lot of news that you just highlighted and the markets have been pretty stable. New highs have been reached across the Dow, the S&P. So, I think the market's pretty resilient across multiple sectors importantly, and that's what we're seeing in our pipeline. It's not just one sector that's looking to get to market. You're seeing a variety of different sectors come to.
F
Frank2:31
You don't have to be an AI company to go public.
L
Lynn Martin2:33
Absolutely. You see some consumer names looking to tap the markets. You see the digital currency names. We have Bitco going this week. You see defense tech. York Space Systems is coming next week. And you see some consumer names and energy names looking to tap the market. So it's not just about AI, although every company's using AI. Every company's deploying AI. It's such a transformational technology. It's really changing the way we all operate both on revenue generation but also efficiency. It's allowing us to do more with the same amount of people, if not less people. But it's an area that everyone is highly leveraging.
F
Frank3:17
So, speaking of news, you were also the subject of a weekend post on Truth Social by the president talking about your project in Texas, the New York Stock Exchange launching in Dallas with companies listing there, saying the president says it's a problem and a threat for New York and a big test for the mayor of New York City. Do you agree? Is this a problem for New York?
L
Lynn Martin3:38
Well, we're fortunate. We're fortunate in that we operate exchanges, benchmark exchanges, landmark exchanges, first of its kind exchanges in two of the greatest cities in the world. Those two being New York and Dallas. And the reason that we opened NYSE Texas last year was because of the conversations we were having with our customers. It was really driven off of the pro business legislation that Governor Abbott had passed in Texas. We were able to bring 105 companies on to NYSE Texas and we've got a queue of additional companies that are looking at NYSE Texas as an opportunity to celebrate the Texas economy. The fact that it is the eighth largest economy.
F
Frank4:29
But does it come at the expense of New York's economy?
L
Lynn Martin4:31
I don't know about that. When you think about it, the companies who have elected NYSE Texas as a listing venue, it's been for dual listings. So, there are companies that are already within our ecosystem or other ecosystems that have chosen to take advantage of the pro business legislation that Governor Abbott has put forth.
F
Frank4:51
Is that in contrast to pro business legislation that hasn't happened in New York? And has the mayor, I mean, the president said this is a good first test for the mayor. Have you been in touch at all with Mayor Mandami?
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Lynn Martin5:02
Well, remember it's around where a company's incorporated, right? And many of these companies are incorporated in Delaware that have changed their articles of incorporation to be incorporated in New York City.
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Frank5:14
No. Although there are areas that clearly the mayoral tenure is going to affect in New York City. I do wonder if the city's first socialist mayor has been in touch at all with the New York Stock Exchange at the heart of capitalism.
L
Lynn Martin5:31
We've had the opportunity to speak to Mayor Mandami while he was going through his campaign really through the partnership, the Partnership for New York City, which is a collection of not just us, but 300 CEOs that are based in New York City. And he was listening to our concerns, particularly the concerns that were in reaction to some of the policies he had put forth.
F
Frank5:58
Got it. Are those dialogues going to continue?
L
Lynn Martin6:00
I hope so. Yeah, I hope so.
F
Frank6:03
Okay. Well, Lynn, we certainly appreciate the time here for the kickoff of Davos. So, thank you.
L
Lynn Martin6:07
Thanks so much for having me. See you wherever we are. Great weather. Yeah, it's beautiful as always.
F
Frank6:13
Absolutely. Not as snowy. That's Lynn Martin, president of the New York Stock Exchange. Frank, send it back over to you.