Stocks - IPO's and broker motivation?
 

How does one motivate brokerage firms to let you in on preferred offerings? I understand it's often a benefit for large/good customers, maybe a lure for future business, but is there an alternate track?

I've been out of the market since shortly before the crash. We knew people who got in early - some winners, some losers - but never pursued it ourselves.

You've got it........you need to deposit a whole load of moolah, or give the appearance of being someone who MIGHT deposit a whole lot of moolah to get shares.

Most IPO's don't trade that wildly right off the bat anymore. You might just as well buy them in the open market.

Okay, thanks. Wouldn't there also be the complication of initial availability only at the firm handling the offering? So you'd need accounts or at least history at the firms of interest?

This is as much filling in the blanks as serious interest. We were so tied up doing the CRT-in-face, fibre-in-hand thing 95-2000 (and missing out on the big MLM) that many details were missed. Now I blame age and minor PTSD. :D

The google announcement sparked my curiosity again, though honestly it seems uniquely dubious.