Interview An initial public offering is a matter of when, not if, for Canonical founder and CEO Mark Shuttleworth, though interested stock owners shouldn't expect a prospectus anytime soon.

"We are well north now of the financial minimums needed for an IPO," he tells The Register during the Ubuntu 25.10 Summit at Canonical's headquarters.

However, the open source veteran emphasizes the real barrier is operational readiness rather than revenue, product, or technical milestones. "I am very calmly of the view that we should be a public company, but also very calmly of the view that there's no need to do it when we're not mature enough."

Shuttleworth is against going public "with our trousers around our ankles," citing market volatility and the need for company confidence before subjecting

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