2021 was a boom year for initial public offerings.

A total of 785 companies went public in the US in the first nine months of 2021, compared to 664 for all of 1996 – the dawn of the internet stock mania. There were several IPOs among these companies, including Bumble, Oatly, Robinhood, and Allbirds.

As part of what was then the biggest IPO since Meta’s, Rivian, the maker of electric vehicles, got in on the action as well. In Rivian’s first day of trading, shares closed nearly 30% higher.

However, it wasn’t just the IPO market that was booming. The entire stock market was affected.

People were basically in a “treat yo’ self” mode on steroids after pandemic restrictions were lifted and the economy started to rebound.

This, among other factors, led to the stock market’s Ferris Bueller’s Day Off shindig unraveling, as well as IPO dreams of many companies.

The US IPO market fell 94.8% to $8 billion in 2022, its lowest level in 32 years.

This week, Birkenstock made its debut as part of the IPO festival, which features UK-based chip designer Arm, Instacart and Birkenstock.

Before things turned south, Arm and Instacart at least got a taste of the good life. The shares of both stocks closed well above their IPO prices on their first day of trading. Since their IPO, they’ve lost all those gains, and their shares are considerably below their IPO value.

It was a bad day for Birkenstock as it closed down 13% on its IPO day on Wednesday. The stock closed down almost 7% on Thursday.