A brief announcement, usually in a newspaper, of a new initial public offering (IPO). Such security offerings are usually announced in the major financial publications such as the Wall Street Journal, Investment Dealers’ Digest, Institutional Investor, etc. The advertisement lists the issuer, the offering type and the offering size, and the underwriters involved in the offering. Tombstones are issued typically after closing. Ads that appear after the offering is complete don’t constitute any offering and appear as for the sake of record only.