The gist of that article is that the number of firms going public or using capital markets to raise equity has diminished in favor of private-equity, irrespective of the number of firms in existence.
Most of the reasoning behind it appears to be that the legal system has been modified in such fashion that it favors other forms of firm structure.
Hardly indicative of any natural decline, it would be easy to take from this article that the Pump & Dump style IPOs (and other massive erosions of trust) are strangling the effectiveness of Capital Markets by scaring away investors and inviting increased regulation.
