A public offering of additional shares by a company that already has shares trading in the public market. It's used to raise additional capital after the initial public offering.
'Seasoned' from Old French 'saisoner' (to ripen/mature), indicating the company is experienced in public markets. 'Equity offering' combines Latin 'aequitas' (fairness/equal) and 'offering.' The term emerged as secondary offerings became common in the mid-20th century.
SEOs often trigger stock price drops because they dilute existing shareholders and may signal that management thinks the stock is overvalued - why else would they issue new shares? However, if the capital is used wisely for growth, the dilution can be temporary!
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