About Robert Greifeld
Robert Greifeld, former Nasdaq chairman and CEO, appeared on CNBC in May and June 2026 to discuss the SpaceX IPO and broader market conditions. He described the SpaceX IPO as "the largest IPO ever" and said Nasdaq was "uniquely able to handle an IPO this size." Greifeld stated that the IPO window is open, citing SpaceX as an example, and said he would "definitely bet" that Anthropic and OpenAI would also list on Nasdaq. He characterized SpaceX stock as trading "not on fundamentals" but "on the aspiration of what's possible with the human spirit."
Greifeld also addressed index inclusion rules for large IPOs. He said that if he were in charge in 2006 and a company with a $75 billion raise, 24 years of operation, and over 10,000 investors sought index inclusion, "we'd be wrong not to get this company in the index." He argued that the scale of such companies provides "adequate float" to support public markets. Regarding price discovery, Greifeld said that index inclusion would have a "marginal" impact on price and that the "beauty of the public market is all buyers and sellers come together to discover price." He suggested that the quality of the market could be judged by spread and liquidity, and that retail investors would be "better served" by the increased information available in public markets.
Source: AI-verified profile updated from Robert Greifeld's recent appearances.
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✨ AI-enhanced transcript with speaker attribution
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Melissa Lee0:00
As you saw before the break, I left the boys downstairs. I'm actually on the second floor of the NASDAQ. We just underwent a $10 million makeover. Actually, behind me, this is the Market Intelligence Center. This is where the IPO execution team sits. This is actually where the Virgin America IPO we were just talking about, that hot IPO, took place. Also, sector analyst monitoring NASDAQ-listed companies, they sit back there. So the celebration to kick off this new space is underway tonight, and this is actually where the new Fast Money set is going to be. A very exciting night for us here at Fast, as well as for the NASDAQ. So on this occasion, we're joined by the CEO of the NASDAQ, Bob Greifeld. Good to have you here.
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Robert Greifeld0:35
Melissa, oh, it's great to be up here finally. Your new home, $10 million to upgrade the site. What are you getting out of it? Well, one, we're getting Fast Money in the second floor, so it's crazy. That's right, truly priceless. But really, this is an important cog in the NASDAQ value proposition for our listing companies. As you mentioned, we can give them information, they can be here, get it directly. But it's also very important to recognize when you go public, part of that is to seek publicity, and this is a great visibility event. You can see the wonderful aspects of Times Square here. So for our listed companies wanting to do brand building, visibility, this is the place to be.
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Melissa Lee1:12
Obviously, the competition for IPO business is pretty fierce. Is this part of the effort, the campaign, you can say to companies, you know what, when you go public here at the NASDAQ, it's going to be flashier, it's going to be show here?
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Robert Greifeld1:21
Uh, it's certainly part of the campaign. Our listed companies love it. We've had a great year so far with IPOs, as you know. 175 companies have listed on NASDAQ just this year. Recently, as you mentioned, we've had Virgin America, a number of notable IPOs right here, and they say the experience is truly something they remember for their entire lives.
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Melissa Lee1:42
You know, for a long time, the NASDAQ has had the knock of being primarily a TV studio downstairs, but we actually have people sitting up here all the time now, analyzing the markets and analyzing the NASDAQ-listed companies. What exactly are they doing right, and what sort of competitive edge does that give you?
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Robert Greifeld1:57
So it's important for us to bring the people aspect of the market in a visible role. So you mentioned the IPO execution, so we have the person responsible for that, the auctioneer, the quarterback here. So our listed company gets to interact with that person directly, see exactly how the book is developing, how the book will be priced, and control the release of the IPO into the marketplace.
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Melissa Lee2:19
All right. And talk to us about the market. We'd love to get your perspective on the IPO pipeline as well as M&A. Certainly, we've had a lot of deals announced even just this week.
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Robert Greifeld2:28
Yeah, I think any time you have high market valuations and cheap money, you'll see deals happening. But we would say, first and foremost, when we look at the performance of the companies this year, it's been solid. The IPO companies have been solid. The pipeline is still very strong, so we remain optimistic going into the balance of 2014, into 2015. We're going to have a very strong calendar.
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Melissa Lee2:52
All right, Bob, thank you so much for your time. Really appreciate it. Thank you for coming. Bob Greifeld, the CEO of the NASDAQ. Again, this is going to be our new home, I think, coming in the new year.
