In 1996, there were a total of 739 IPOs in the US. Last year, there were only 225. Companies are going public at a fraction of the rate that they were decades ago, and in a strange twist, some public companies are even being taken private. In fact, 30 years ago, there were over 8000 publicly traded companies in the US, but now, that number is hovering at around 4,000. Half. So, why aren’t companies going public anymore? What does this mean for investors and regular people? And why are economists so worried? Well, let’s find out.