Markets: “Ticking time bomb” – Large tech IPOs pose a hidden risk

New York. In the competition for the best AI minds, tech companies pay dizzying salaries. “The salary expectations of the best people are so high that many tech companies would find it difficult to finance them in cash alone,” says Christian Behm from the consultancy Magpie.

Unlisted start-ups therefore resort to special employee participation programs and make targeted use of accounting regulations. The associated high costs can thus be postponed until after the IPO. The true personnel costs remain hidden before the IPO.

This often has devastating consequences for the share price, according to a study by Sven Riethmueller. He conducts research at Yale University in the US. The Uber case shows how drastic the effect can be. And such a program could also prove to be a problem with the mega IPO of the AI ​​developer Anthropic, which is expected in November. In an interview with Handelsblatt, Riethmueller warns of a “ticking time bomb”.