Yes, and you can IPO but retain majority of the shares for yourself so you don’t lose majority vote. Carlyle group bought Booz Allen Hamilton and IPO’d it, but only sold 25% of the shares to the public. (Then they took out a billion dollar loan, spent it all on dividends which means Carlyle took a loan to pay themselves a bonus... and then immediately cut all employee benefits.. that would be when I quit /rant)