Medline stock pops 20% in early trading after raising $6.3 billion in year’s biggest IPO

Updated Wed, December 17, 2025 at 12:56 PM EST 1 min read

Medline (MDLN) stock rose as much as 26% on Wednesday, as investors warmly greeted the year’s biggest IPO in markets on one of the last trading days of the year.

The medical supply giant said late Tuesday that it had raised $6.26 billion in its IPO, selling a little over 216 million shares at $29 each, with the stock set to begin trading on Wednesday. The public offering price valued Medline at upwards of $50 billion.

Private equity giants Blackstone (BX), Carlyle (CG), and Hellman & Friedman took a majority stake in the company in 2021, valuing the company at $30 billion.

The deal caps the best year for the IPO market since 2021. Wall Street’s outlook for deals and new issues is even more optimistic heading into 2026.

Recent reports have indicated that SpaceX (SPX.PVT) is likely to go public in 2026, with the company having recently struck a deal for insiders to sell stock in Elon Musk’s rocketry and satellite business, which valued the company at $800 billion.

Major artificial intelligence players like OpenAI (OPAI.PVT) and Anthropic (ANTH.PVT) are also expected to explore going public within the next 18 months, according to The Information. Database giant Databricks (DATB.PVT), which raised money at a $134 billion valuation this week, said it could explore a public offering as soon as next year.

Editors’ note: This story was updated to clarify Carlyle and Hellman & Friedman’s role in Medline’s 2021 transaction.