Can anyone please explain the IPO process from a buyers perspective. As stapleton is new and now airlines are running IPOs, I could be interested in buying shares in other countries but don’t understand the IPO process and how to look for a good bargain. Probably a brief description or an example would do. I am sure it would be helpful to others, too.
Thanks
A good bargain is an airline you suspect to have a bright perspective for its future, almost regardless of how many shares have already been signed up for.
You should treat buying stocks as a long-term investment, so if you recognize users as being experienced (e.g. they maintain large airlines on other game worlds or their current cashflows are really high), you may go for it.
(my personal advice would of course be to sign up for shares of CentraJet East 
- just kidding, that’s my own airline’s IPO)
That article is extremely hard to understand, but maybe it’s just me.
LOL, last time I invested in a large airline it went belly-up the next day. Think of the odds of that, it was almost a year old, AS$1,600 index, but for some reason ceased business and ruined my investment. And no, I wasn’t in for a long ride.
A large airline takes time to build. If a user maintains a large airline anywhere, that means he’s got the experience and “understanding” of the game to do it and the patience to stay with the game.
I am reasonably new to airlinesim… but I am already a fan. I just bought my first credits.
I am having trouble doing an IPO. When I try to, it says:
[b]As a holding this enterprise cannot be listed on the stock market. It belongs solely to your game account.
[/b]What does this mean? How do I do an IPO. Did I miss something in the setup when I started my airline?
Thanks in advance.
yes , you miss something
the first thing what you get is a holding, a holding can not make an IPO
so in the beginnig you must directly found a subsidiary, that can make an IPO
Is it possible to create a subsiderary and then move the flying to it?
It’s possible to create a subsidiary and operate flights with it, however, you’ll need to set everything up from scratch: Maintenance contract, lease new planes, set cabin configs, open offices, create routes, flight numbers, schedules, etc. I’m afraid you can’t transfer the aircraft and all related things to your subsidiary. You’d have to return the aircraft in order to do so.
Besides, you’re not missing all that much by not having an IPO: Assuming you do one 2 weeks into the game, your company value is perhaps 16 million AS$. You can get another 8 million (if shares are signed at 200% or more) from the IPO, but from that moment onwards, you pay a dividend of 15% of your profits each week. On the long run, it’ll cost you more than you gain by having that little capital injection. If you’re desperate for more cash (for instance, a competitor went bankrupt and you want to secure the slots that opened up and need money for it), then an IPO may be useful. If you just want the money for planned expansion, you’re probably better off just waiting until your aircraft made enough money to do so. Chances are you will earn the same amount of money you would get from the IPO within a month 2 months at the most, at least at the beginning of a new server.
mmh, my last IPO brings me 100 million with only 100% signed, so don’t say he miss something 
and 15% sounds much, but from that you pay regularly 12% to your own holding
Sure, the longer you wait, the more you’ll get. At the same time, that 15% will also be a larger sum of money at that time (unless you screwed up somehow). If your IPO brings you 100 million (at 100% signed), your company value was 400 million at the time.
Regardless of where the money goes, it’s still 15% of your profit that leaves the company. That you can use it to create new subsidiaries doesn’t matter, it’s still money they original airline can’t use any more.
but instead all of this, everybody must be free to decide, start an IPO or not
and it seems as many new players still don’t know that they can’t start an IPO with the holding
and found a subsidiary does not mean you must start an IPO, but you have the opportunity
so i think it is may be better, if every new player MUST found a subsidiary
Thanks for the responses.
It makes sense that if you go public, it is a function of actual value.
I guess I glossed past the subsiderary part in the instructions - but that’s ok. I have some ideas. It might even be better this way. 
Let’s just say that I deliberately started off operating flights with my holding exactly so that I couldn’t go public. If I am ever to found a daughter airline (Cargo, if anything), then perhaps I may take that to the stock market to get some nice cash injection as well as additional income for my main airline whenever a profit is made. It could even serve as a way to compensate a loss-making business, so there are some merits to having a publicly traded company.
Of course another disadvantage is that any competitor that has shares in your airline can see your financial details, and determine from that how strong a position you’re in. Definitely makes the competition tougher, what with them using our details against you.