Firmness scraps Australian IPO

Business · Heat 1.2 / 10 · 2 shows · 1m airtime

Firmness scrapped its planned $30 billion Australian IPO on October 9, 2026, after investors rejected the valuation. The offering would have been the country's largest listing in 30 years. The discussion has since widened from a single withdrawal to the pricing of AI-infrastructure listings generally: Bloomberg reported that investors are pressing UK neocloud Nscale to lower its IPO range. What remains open is whether the Firmness pull was firm-specific or the start of a broader repricing across the sector.

How 2 podcasts covered it

1. WSJ What's News, 2026-10-09 (5:18 to 5:46)
   Recaps the scrapped $30 billion listing
   A short segment on Firmness scrapping its $30 billion Australian listing, the country's largest in 30 years, read as another sign of investor pushback on AI-trade valuations and infrastructure funding.
   New angle: Firmness scrapped a $30 billion Australian IPO, the country's largest in 30 years, after investors rejected the valuation.
2. Big Take, 2026-10-21 (11:11 to 12:03)
   Adds Nscale's IPO pressure to the pulled listing
   Adds two data points to the pulled-listing story: Bloomberg reporting that UK neocloud Nscale is under investor pressure to lower its IPO range, and that the Australian listing belonged to an NVIDIA-backed neocloud. Frames both as the start of pricing concerns, with the July Situational Awareness pullback as the comparison.
   New angle: Bloomberg reported investors are pressing UK neocloud Nscale to lower its IPO range.