Blackstone’s Gray Says 2026 Shaping Up to Be ‘Year of the IPO’

Blackstone Inc. President Jon Gray anticipates that dealmaking and initial public offerings will accelerate this year amid a favorable regulatory environment and lower interest rates.

“2026 should be the year of the IPO,” said Gray at the WSJ Invest conference Tuesday.

The US market for IPOs had already been gathering momentum last year, with Blackstone-backed Medline Inc. raising $6.26 billion in the year’s biggest offering. This year’s pipeline is slated to include big names such as SpaceX, OpenAI and Anthropic, stoking more optimism about the public markets.

Blackstone President and CEO Jon Gray

Photographer: Carla Gottgens/Bloomberg

Medline’s successful debut bodes well for dealmaking in 2026, as ...