Public companies always had pretty strict reporting requirements leading to substantial overhead. If you take the public's money they have a right to be informed and to a minimum standard of corporate structure and governance.
Sarbanes-Oxley was instituted in the wake of the Enron and Worldcom (and others beside) scandals (which led to the demise of accounting giant Arthur-Andersen, which - surprisingly - survived in some form because the verdict against them from the Enron debacle was eventually overturned by the supreme court) which severely undermined the public confidence in Wall Street.
As a result the already substantial reporting requirements for public companies were ratcheted up several notches further increasing the overhead. So yes, Sarbanes-Oxley made it more expensive to be listed on the stock market and therefore to be trade publicly but the difference was always there, also before SOX.
Sarbanes-Oxley was instituted in the wake of the Enron and Worldcom (and others beside) scandals (which led to the demise of accounting giant Arthur-Andersen, which - surprisingly - survived in some form because the verdict against them from the Enron debacle was eventually overturned by the supreme court) which severely undermined the public confidence in Wall Street.
As a result the already substantial reporting requirements for public companies were ratcheted up several notches further increasing the overhead. So yes, Sarbanes-Oxley made it more expensive to be listed on the stock market and therefore to be trade publicly but the difference was always there, also before SOX.