Comment by mgfist

Both have benefits. Staying private means a lot less distractions, less investor scrutiny (good and bad), and the general ability to do whatever you want (good and bad).

It's a lot easier to stay long-term focused without investors breathing down your neck. As a private company you're not dealing with shortsellers, retail memers, institutional capital that wants good earnings now, etc..

Of course, the bad side is that if the company gets mismanaged, there's far less accountability and thus it could continue until it's too late. In the public markets it's far easier to oust the C-suite if things go south.

It's a shame that the trend of staying private longer means retail gets shut out from companies like this.