NYSE Group President Lynn Martin, and Nasdaq CEO Adena Friedman Speaks with Sara Eisen on "Squawk on the Street"

CNBC's Sara Eisen sat down with NYSE Group President Lynn Martin, and Nasdaq CEO Adena Friedman, from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where they discussed IPOs, NYSE Dallas, AI, and the economic outlook.

CNBC will broadcast live in Davos, Switzerland for coverage of the World Economic Forum, delivering real-time insights and interviews with global CEOs, policymakers, and influential voices shaping the world economy.


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MARTIN ON 2026 IPOS

LYNN MARTIN: We think 2026, is going to be a super cycle in terms of IPO activity. We're seeing a tremendous amount of companies who are at the one yard line at the starting gate, ready to flip public, ready to go public.

SARA EISEN: Does that include the mega IPOs, you know, OpenAI, Anthropic, SpaceX, also waiting in the wings?

MARTIN: Yeah, I think we'll see. We'll see what 2026 means for them. They're going to probably be a bit more selective about when they go out, particularly given the capital needs, the size of the capital raises that all of those three companies are talking about embarking upon, absolutely, I think they're going to, you know, take a measured approach and look to see what markets are telling them before they come out.


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MARTIN ON CONSUMER NAMES GOING PUBLIC

MARTIN: You see some consumer names looking to tap the markets. You see the digital currency names, we have BitGo going this week. You see defense tech York Space Systems is coming next week. And you see some consumer names and energy names looking to tap the market. So it's not just about AI, although every company is using AI, every company is deploying AI, it's such a transformational technology.

MARTIN ON NYSE DALLAS

MARTIN: The reason that we opened NYSE Texas last year was because of the conversations we were having with our customers. It was really driven off of the pro-business legislation that Governor Abbott had passed in Texas. We were able to bring 105 companies on to NYSE Texas, and we've got a queue of additional companies that are looking at NYSE Texas as an opportunity to celebrate the Texas economy, the fact that it is the eighth largest economy, the fact that—

EISEN: But does it come at the expense of New York's economy?

MARTIN: I don't know about that. When you think about it, the companies who have elected NYSE Texas as a listing venue, it's been for dual listings. So there are companies that are already within our ecosystem or other ecosystems that have chosen to take advantage of the pro-business legislation that Governor Abbott has put forth.


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Interview with Nasdaq CEO Adena Friedman

Video: https://www.cnbc.com/video/2026/01/20/nasdaq-ceo-adena-friedman-on-2026-outlook-impact-of-ai-and-ipo-pipeline.html

FRIEDMAN ON AI

ADENA FRIEDMAN: AI is a transformative technology, a transformational it's, it's something that comes around very infrequently, and you know, as you look back and during the history of our country, as you know, you know, the railroads, all these major technological advancements require an enormous amount of infrastructure build out, and at the same time you've got this, this new, you know, normally, kind of at the J curve of adoption. And I would say that AI that's going to be greatly accelerated, but there still is a lot of foundational work that companies need to do to make AI effective inside their organization.

FRIEDMAN ON ADAPTING TO TECHNOLOGY

FRIEDMAN: AI as a general matter is a technology can lower the barrier to entry to new business, because you don't have to hire as many people, you don't have to build up as much infrastructure to launch your business and be successful. So it will probably spawn a whole range of businesses that we don't even know exist yet. At the same time, I think that with enterprises that in order for them to take advantage of the technology, there's a lot of foundational work that they need to do to modernize their infrastructure, their data management, their code bases, to make it so that they can really adopt AI at scale. But if they're ready to do that, the hat, the winners and the losers are really going to be determined by how ready they are to be able to move quickly, how much work they've been doing up to this point, to be able to take advantage of the technology. But I still think there's going to be just a whole range of new companies that come into existence, smaller companies, like being more nimble, and then larger scale companies that can have a lot of impact.


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FRIEDMAN ON ECONOMIC OUTLOOK

FRIEDMAN: Many of us, including Nasdaq, we really focus on, how do we manage through every political cycle? You know, we are an enduring company. We want to continue to be a long standing, enduring company. And at the same time, you know, there are, there changes in policies around bank regulation and things like that that people can really get behind. I also would say that the economy has stayed strong. The consumer has continued to spend, and so the overall economic outlook remains quite positive. So you have this kind of positive economic backdrop, and then trying to make sure you're managing yourself through whatever political cycle we're facing and and that right now includes the Trump administration and a deregulatory agenda.


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CNBC's "Squawk Box" Anchors Joe Kernen, Becky Quick, and Andrew Ross Sorkin as well as "Squawk on the Street" & "Money Movers" Co-Anchor Sara Eisen will be live again in Davos tomorrow, Thursday, January 22. See guest list below.

Guests for tomorrow, Thursday, January 22,  include: Demis Hassabis, DeepMind CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi, Uber CEO, Arthur Mensch, Mistral AI CEO, David Solomon, Goldman Sachs Chairman & CEO, Christian Ulbrich, JLL CEO & President, Bret Taylor, Sierra Co-Founder & CEO, Carl Eschenbach, Workday CEO, Will.i.Am, Philanthropist & Entertainer, Charles Scharf, Wells Fargo CEO, Mike Fries, Liberty Global CEO, Paul Hudson, Sanofi CEO, Michael Dell, Dell Technologies Chairman & CEO, Laura Alber, Williams-Sonoma CEO & President, Jamie Salter, Authentic Brands CEO.

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