Back in the late 1980’s and all of the 1990’s promising growth companies could raise $20-$30 million in equity capital and go public with well recognized names like Prudential Securities, Alex Brown, Salomon Smith Barney and many others. Since then the number of IPOs has dropped considerably particularly for companies seeking to raise less than $50 million. I, like many financial pundits, have blamed increased regulation which drove up the cost of IPOs. However, this white paper suggest it’s was a confluence of many factors (the perfect storm) that did it in and most important was the growth of online, discount trading. I found this article fascinating and a reminder that most causes for significant change are rarely one dimensional.