OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, has filed plans for a stock market debut, joining rival Anthropic in a race to go public that now includes Elon Musk’s rocket company, SpaceX. 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 list their shares.
OpenAI made a confidential filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday, exactly one week after Anthropic revealed its own IPO plans. “We have not decided on timing yet; it may be a while because there are things we want to do that are likely easier as a private company,” OpenAI said. The company added it was revealing its plans because “we expect it to leak”.
“OpenAI files for IPO as AI rivals Anthropic and SpaceX also race to go public.”
SpaceX is set to debut on the Nasdaq on Friday, targeting a share price that would value the company at $1.75tn (£1.3tn). It plans to sell 555.6m shares at a valuation of $135 each, raising $75bn – billed as the biggest stock market launch in history. Up to a quarter of the shares could be reserved for individual investors, rather than funds and banks, according to a report on Friday.
UK investors can bid for SpaceX shares through platforms including AJ Bell and Hargreaves Lansdown, 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,” said Jason Hollands, managing director of BestInvest. The official share price will be set on 11 June based on investor interest.
OpenAI and Anthropic, maker of the Claude chatbot, have been fierce rivals since Dario Amodei co-founded Anthropic five years ago after leaving OpenAI over disagreements with Sam Altman, OpenAI’s co-founder and chief executive. Today they compete for users, corporate customers and investors, jockeying with private valuations inching toward $1tn – OpenAI’s most recent private valuation was $852bn, Anthropic’s $965bn.
“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. Investors are closely tracking the listings, as their performance will shape expectations for others to follow.
Last week, Altman told CNBC he was in no rush to take OpenAI public, saying he would do it “when it makes sense”. But with Anthropic and SpaceX now pressing ahead, the pressure is on.