Public Distribution

public distribution

The sale of a new securities issue to individual investors. The sales fee for the distribution, usually absorbed by the issuer, is included in the offering price.

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Public Distribution

Any offering of stock by a publicly-traded company to individual investors. If it is the first such offering, it is called an initial public offering (IPO); otherwise, it is a follow-on offering. Companies make public distributions in order to raise financing for expanded operations, or because they have become cash poor and need to finance their current operations. There is a sales fee attached to public distributions that the issuer includes in the offering price.