Tombstone (financial industry)

A tombstone is a type of print notice that is most often used in the financial industry to formally announce a particular transaction, such as an initial public offering or placement of stock of a company.

The Securities Act of 1933 required the publication of the tombstone advertisement to be printed in a newspaper and provide the barest of information on the transaction as the last step in the financial deal.

[2] This public disclosure is done in a form that lists the participants in a specified order according to their role in underwriting or brokering the transaction.

[3] The name of the disclosure comes from the appearance of advertisement used, a 'tombstone ad', so called because the simple, centered text style with large amounts of whitespace and few if any images or other adornments make them resemble some of the tombstones found in cemeteries.

[6] Tombstone ads are considered by the SEC to "condition the market" for the securities, and thus are an offer even though the notice may not specifically describe the transaction.