To this who ask "why not use an auction", there's been some research on that: http://insight.kellogg.northwestern.edu/article/why_do_ipo_auctions_fail http://in

To this who ask "why not use an auction", there's been some research on that: http://insight.kellogg.northwestern.edu/article/why_do_ipo_auctions_fail http://insight.kellogg.northwestern.edu/article/why_do_ipo_a... In short, game theory strikes again: lazy auctioneers bid high blindly and hope that others will do the actual research to set the end price fairly, but those others have less incentive to do research because they are getting priced out by the lazy bums anyways. Another problem is that some bidders irrationally assume that a more popular stock is more valuable, so they too contribute to overpricing. As a result, sophisticated investors are staying away from auctions.