Morgan Stanley Exec on the IPO Market, Robinhood’s Tokenized Stocks and More

After a couple years in a slump, the market for initial public offerings has been stronger this year.

In this week's episode of WSJ’s Take On the Week, host Telis Demos is joined by Arnaud Blanchard, global co-head of equity capital markets at Morgan Stanley, to discuss how recent IPO deals from companies like Chime and Voyager Technologies are giving the market a bump, where IPOs are expected to go in the second half of 2025 and if there is any chance of the market returning to its 2021 highs.

Blanchard also shares what companies and sectors he thinks investors should pay the most attention to and whether he sees new offerings like “tokenized stocks” from brokerage upstart Robinhood as a threat to the IPO market. 

This is WSJ’s Take On the Week where co-hosts Gunjan Banerji, lead writer for Live Markets, and Telis Demos, Heard on the Street’s banking and money columnist, cut through the noise and dive into markets, the economy and finance—the big trades, key players and business news ahead.

Have an idea for a future guest or episode? How can we better help you take on the week? We’d love to hear from you. Email the show at takeontheweek@wsj.com. 

To watch the video version of this episode, visit our WSJ Podcasts YouTube channel or the video page of WSJ.com 

Further Reading 

Wall Street Hangs On to Hopes for a Boom in Deals 

Private Equity’s IPO Exit Doors Expected to Open Wide in Second Half 

Chime Financial Is the Latest IPO to Soar in Debut 

Voyager Technologies Rises in Debut, Signaling Improving IPO Market 

For more coverage of the markets and your investments, head to WSJ.com, WSJ’s Heard on The Street Column, and WSJ’s Live Markets blog.  

Sign up for the WSJ's free Markets A.M. newsletter. 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices