Codie SanchezFounder @ Contrarian Thinking

Where did all of the companies go?

23 May 2026 · 1 min

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In this monologue, Codie Sanchez examines the dramatic reduction in publicly listed U.S. companies since the mid‑1990s. She notes that around 1996 there were roughly 8,000 listed firms, but the number of IPOs has since fallen by about half, and companies now remain private longer—average time to IPO rising from eight years in the late 1990s to twelve years today. Sanchez frames this as a structural shift in how ambitious American firms pursue growth, suggesting that much of the high‑growth phase now occurs while companies are still private. Citing a Law & Finance Review, she warns that ordinary investors miss out on the most lucrative period of a company’s life, which can materially affect retirement outcomes; she illustrates this with a scenario where a $1.2 million index‑fund portfolio at age 65 may no longer fund a comfortable retirement. The visual of the former Pacific Stock Exchange building, now a gym, serves as a metaphor for the disappearance of public markets. Sanchez asks why this shift happened and whether it matters for individual investors seeking higher returns.

Chapters

Where did all the companies go? I used to dollar-cost average every month into the stock market and feel really smart doing it. Then I saw this number I'm about to tell you, and I felt sick. I want you to see what I felt. But first, this building used to be the Pacific Stock Exchange, a place where companies were bought, sold, and valued in the public markets. Today, it's a gym. To understand what happened, you have to go back to around 1996. 8,000 companies publicly listed, and then something shifted. The number of IPOs started falling to now it's half. The companies that would've gone public a decade earlier started staying private longer. And then longer still. In the late '90s, the average company waited about 8 years before going public. Today it's 12. That's a structural change in how most ambitious companies in America think about growth. So the question is, why? And do we care for us to make more money? A Law Finance Review puts it more bluntly: by the time these companies finally list, much of the growth phase, where all the money is made, may have already passed. So ordinary investors, you and I, miss out on a vital period of economic growth. Listen, think about it this way. If you retire at 65 with $1.2 million in index funds, you will spend your last healthy decade deciding whether to fix the roof or take the trip today, when in the past you could have rode off into the sunset. That's the difference between the dream they sold you that hasn't been upgraded.