Silicon Valley is used to minting millionaires. But this many? When tech’s highest-valued companies finally go public next year, they will unleash billions of liquid dollars into the market and make 2019 a year of incredible wealth creation.
And that’ll shape the world in which we live, even if you’re not making a single penny in a banner year of IPOs. An early employee might use some of the $20 million he makes to buy a new home and price you out of a neighborhood. Or a startup co-founder might set up a charitable foundation that makes a difference in your life.
Startup darlings like Uber, Pinterest and Slack are expected to headline the best IPO year in recent memory, allowing investors and rank-and-file employees to eventually sell their shares and turn stock into real money. The companies will likely together be worth more than $100 billion – and it’s got to go somewhere.
There’s a lot of focus on the Travis Kalanicks of the world, but much of the real wealth next year will be bestowed upon people who are decamillionaires but not centimillionaires – people with at least $10 million, but not $100 million, in stock.
That’s why the wealth advisory world is anticipating next year – and the non-wealthy should be, too. Because the decisions that the rich make in 2019 will shape the real estate, philanthropy and startup worlds for years to come.
The first to bend: The Bay Area housing market.