SEC Chairman Jay Clayton said that the commission wants to make it easier for individuals to invest in private companies, including some of the world’s hottest startups, the Wall Street Journal reported. Clayton, a Trump appointee wrestling with how to boost flagging interest in public markets, said that the commission also wants to take steps to give more individual investors a shot at companies that have been out of their reach because they haven’t gone public. Companies including Uber Technologies Inc. and Airbnb Inc. have shunned the public markets in favor of private investors such as venture capitalists. For decades, regulators have typically walled off most private deals from smaller investors, who must meet stringent income and net-worth requirements to participate because of the added risk private investing holds. Clayton said the SEC is now weighing a major overhaul of rules intended to protect mom-and-pop investors, with the goal of opening up new options for them.
