One of the ways a company can choose to go public is by using the Dutch Auction method. Here is an example of how this process works.

An emerging growth company (the “Company”) has decided to raise equity capital through an Initial Public Offering or IPO. The Company proceeds through the registration process with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) for offering the sale of their common shares of stock directly to the public. The Dutch Auction process can be performed through a broker-dealer or directly by the Company; also called a Direct Public Offering or DPO.

After the shares are approved for sale by the SEC, the Company retains ePO to provide its turnkey technology solution so they can offer their IPO shares online and directly to the database of ePO Members (Investors).
The issuer then notifies its' Members via email that their IPO prospectus is available for review. Members are directed to the Company’s website where they can review the prospectus. Each Member carefully reviews the Prospectus of the Company and decides if they want to bid on the IPO shares that are being offered.

Members who decide to participate in the IPO fill out the Subscription Agreement to purchase the Company’s stock and decide how much money they want to invest and how much they want to bid for the stock. (ie: $10,000 invested – bid 1,000 shares at $10 per share) Members complete the e-check form to submit their money electronically to Wells Fargo Bank Escrow. Each Member receives an electronic confirmation. All monies are held in at Wells Fargo Bank Corporate Escrow until the Initial Public Offering of the securities is completed.

The bids are all tallied and Members with the winning bids are contacted. If a Member has a winning bid but the Company has decided to accept a lower offering price to complete its IPO, then the Member will receive the lower price of the stock. The amount of shares the Member receives will be determined by the amount they invested divided by the offering price of the stock.
(ie: $10,000 invested divided by the offering price of $8 per share = 1,250 shares)

The losing bidders (any ePO Member who bids lower than $8 per share) are also notified and their money is immediately refunded by Wells Fargo Bank.
The winning Members information is sent to the Stock Transfer Agent. The Stock Transfer Agent delivers the stock certificates to the Members home address or stock brokerage account.

After the Stock certificates are distributed the Company’s stock starts to trade either the American Stock Exchange or the NASDAQ small cap stock exchange.