Short answers, pulled from the story.
The first U.S. IPO emerged around 1783 with the Bank of North America offering shares directly to the public. This event marked the beginning of direct public offerings where issuing companies set share prices themselves before 1860.
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission regulates IPOs under the Securities Act of 1933. Companies must file lengthy documents called prospectuses disclosing details to potential purchasers including red herring prospectuses during the initial quiet period.
Investment banks act as underwriters when companies offer their shares to the public through an IPO process. Upon selling shares, underwriters retain portions of proceeds as fees known as underwriting spreads which typically include manager fees plus concessions paid to broker-dealers.
Saudi Aramco raised twenty-nine point four billion dollars during its 2019 initial public offering making it the largest ever. Alibaba Group followed with twenty-five billion dollars in 2014 while SoftBank Group secured twenty-three point five billion in 2018.
A Dutch auction allows shares allocated solely based on price aggressiveness with all successful bidders paying identical prices. Google used this system for its initial public offering in 2004 despite traditional bank resistance to eliminate favorable treatment accorded important clients by conventional underwriters.