In an IPO, secondary shares (in contrast to primary shares) refer to existing shares of common stock that are sold to investors in an offering (see Secondary Market Offering). The selling of these secondary shares may be from existing shareholders, or may be newly registered shares from the company. In the case of newly registered shares, the offering is referred to as "dilutive" (to EPS) due to the increase in the number of outstanding shares. In the case of selling shares of already registered stock (from an institutional block or from insider shares), the offering is considered "non-dilutive".
Famous quotes containing the words secondary and/or shares:
“Scientific reason, with its strict conscience, its lack of prejudice, and its determination to question every result again the moment it might lead to the least intellectual advantage, does in an area of secondary interest what we ought to be doing with the basic questions of life.”
—Robert Musil (1880–1942)
“It is the sun that shares our works.
The moon shares nothing. It is a sea.”
—Wallace Stevens (1879–1955)