Europe's stockmarkets have been losing companies to America for years. New Financial, a think-tank, reckons that in the decade to 2024 some 130 companies moved their listing from Europe to America, while over 1,000 were taken private. In today's money, their total value at the point of de-listing adds up to $1.7trn—more than 10% of what Europe's stockmarkets are worth. Proportional to market capitalisation, Ireland is the biggest loser, followed by Sweden, Britain and Germany.
Wise, one of Europe's hottest fintech outfits, announced in June 2025 that it would move its main listing from London to New York. Klarna, a Swedish fintech, also intends to float in America; Revolut's boss has hinted it may do so too. Spotify, the only European firm founded this century worth more than $100bn, listed in New York in 2018. Arm, a British chip designer, listed there in 2023.
The chief draw is not the supposed "valuation gap" between American and European share prices—control for expected profit growth and sectoral mix, and it disappears. Rather, most fast-growing European firms already have largely American shareholder bases who are familiar with American bankers and listing procedures. America's consumer market is among the most lucrative for globally ambitious firms. The median boss of a firm in America's S&P 500 is paid two and a half times their equivalent in Britain's FTSE 100. European investors are perceived as perennially reluctant to approve the high-risk, high-growth strategies that tech founders want to pursue.
Britain's government is mulling plans to force some retirement savings to be invested at home. The broader European response has included task-forces, consultations and reviews, with promises of streamlined reporting, harmonised regulations and centralised supervision.
This generation doesn't have emotional baggage. We have emotional moving vans.