Why is such a big multinational company as IKEA still privately held?

i think Mr. Mohammed Thiab  is quite right in answering this question

Simply because they do NOT need to go public and become public traded company.

IKEA is not the only big company doing this .... How about Uniliver for example ??

Companies go from private to public  when they need more to grow their business than what they can provide on their own.   Apparently, this is NOT the case with them !

AGREED WITH MASTER MIND ON BAYT. MR.TAIB

Why go public? Going along nicely, obviously very well managed, a brand that is known worldwide and is profitable. A goverment which is benefitting from the (I presume) large amount of tax IKEA is paying will quite happily leave well alone working on the premise "!f it ain't broke, don't try to fix it"!

Agree with Mr. Mohammed Thiab

A gree with Mr:  Thaib

If I can fund my business & I,m stisfy with my market share then I don't need to go public. So may be this is the story with IkEA

Because the founder has core values and cor purpose other than making money and he insists on fulfilling his dream.

Its the sole decesion of IKEA management. 

If they are getting large business volumes and have sufficient capital resources and funds than why to go publicly and bear unwanted stress and work load !

I think a company like IKEA want to be distinguished among other furniture companies.