https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-09-09/we-mig...
Well, I just got through saying that there’s not really any reward for being pessimistic and right about valuation when you are pitching an IPO. Your optimistic competitors will get the mandate, and then spend some time walking the company back
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On the other hand it is a repeat game and there are occasionally penalties for getting it wrong:
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it will be rough for Morgan Stanley if winning the biggest IPO prize [Uber] of the unicorn era loses it the biggest IPO prize of all time [Saudi Aramco]
Complete aside, but the ~second largest oil producing country is selling part of its state-owned oil company. Yes, they're trying to diversify so they're not just a petrostate, but this should be a red flag for the oil industry.
Discount is the word they want you to hear in your head. The valuations are all imaginary. By setting such a high previous valuation, people now look at the current valuation in the context of that, instead of what it should be: $0.