The race to go public has intensified among the world’s most valuable private companies, with OpenAI, Anthropic and SpaceX all revealing plans for stock market debuts within days of each other. On Monday, OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, announced a confidential filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission for an initial public offering (IPO). The move came exactly a week after rival AI firm Anthropic, maker of the Claude chatbot, said it was planning to list. Meanwhile, billionaire Elon Musk’s rocket company, SpaceX, is set to debut on the Nasdaq on 12 June in what is being billed as the biggest stock market launch in history.
SpaceX plans to sell 555.6m shares at a valuation of $135 each, which would raise $75bn. Up to a quarter of the shares could be reserved for individual investors, a larger share than typical for such a large IPO. In the UK, platforms including AJ Bell and Hargreaves Lansdown are offering clients the chance to bid for shares, with minimum subscriptions typically about £1,000. “Normally, it is quite difficult for UK-based retail investors to access US IPOs, but a number of UK brokers and investment platforms are offering access to this one, sensing both strong client demand and, no doubt, a commercial opportunity,” said Jason Hollands, managing director of BestInvest.
“OpenAI files for IPO one week after Anthropic, as SpaceX prepares historic $75bn stock market debut.”
The three firms all have a “vast need for cash”, said Sunil Krishnan from Aviva Investors, and “no-one wants to be last” in the game to go public. He noted that the companies are making huge investments in AI infrastructure, including chips and training models, at massive expense. OpenAI and Anthropic have been fierce rivals ever since Dario Amodei co-founded the latter five years ago after leaving OpenAI over disagreements with Sam Altman, OpenAI’s co-founder and chief executive. The companies compete for users, corporate customers and investors, with private valuations inching toward $1tn: OpenAI’s most recent valuation was $852bn, while Anthropic’s hit $965bn.
OpenAI said it had not decided on timing yet and that “it may be a while because there are things we want to do that are likely easier as a private company.” Altman told CNBC last week he was in no rush and would go public “when it makes sense”. The company said it was revealing its plans because “we expect it to leak”. Investors are closely tracking the listings, as their performance will shape expectations for others to follow. “We might typically think of OpenAI and Anthropic as competitors, but the fate of their financing is intrinsically intertwined through the public’s perception of the generative AI space,” said Richard Crowley, assistant professor at Singapore Management University.