OpenAI Has Filed for IPO. Catching Up to SpaceX and Anthropic Progress: The Largest IPO Window in History Is Here

TradingKey — On Monday local time, OpenAI announced it has filed confidentially for an IPO, a move that comes just one week after competitor Anthropic submitted its own filing and ahead of SpaceX’s scheduled listing on June 12.

OpenAI has not disclosed the size or terms of the offering and stated that a timeline has not yet been determined. Reuters previously reported the company could go public as early as September. Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the matter, reported that OpenAI is working with Goldman Sachs (GS) and Morgan Stanley (MS) to advance its listing, potentially debuting on the public market as early as this autumn; OpenAI also plans to initiate a share buyback several weeks before the IPO to provide liquidity for employees.

The Largest IPO Window in History

Reuters reported that these three companies are seen as the most significant test of market appetite for high-growth tech stocks in the past decade. Currently, SpaceX, OpenAI, and Anthropic are lining up for public listings within the same time window, an unprecedented scale where each entity is large enough to set records individually.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX will lead the way by going public this Friday and is currently conducting its roadshow. The company plans to raise $75 billion at a valuation of $1.75 trillion, potentially making it the largest IPO in history. Anthropic stated on June 1 that it has confidentially filed for an IPO; in its latest funding round a few weeks ago, the company raised $65 billion at a valuation of $965 billion.

If all three companies complete their listings, their combined valuation will exceed $3.6 trillion, capturing the top three spots for the largest IPOs in history.

Vying for pole position in the IPO race

CNBC reported that SpaceX listed these two companies as 'major competitors' in the AI field in its prospectus. Due to the intense market response to SpaceX's offering, Anthropic and OpenAI may race to seize the IPO window to raise significant capital.

Fundraising is particularly urgent for OpenAI. Although OpenAI previously completed the largest single financing round in Silicon Valley history, raising funds from Amazon (AMZN) , Nvidia (NVDA) , SoftBank, and other investors, raising $122 billion with cumulative funding exceeding $180 billion, but the company's burn rate will also exceed that of any public company in history. In February this year, OpenAI told investors it plans to spend approximately $600 billion on AI infrastructure by 2030.

Gil Luria, Managing Director at DA Davidson, stated that the last thing OpenAI wants to see is public market capital drying up. Not only are SpaceX and Anthropic ahead of it in terms of an IPO, but other large public competitors (such as Google) could also raise massive funds through secondary offerings, competing for capital. On June 1, Google (GOOG) (GOOGL) announced plans to raise up to $80 billion through equity financing, an ultra-large scale that is rare in history.

But compared to these companies, OpenAI's competitiveness is slightly lacking. According to data disclosed in late May, OpenAI's revenue in the first quarter of this year was approximately $5.7 billion, nearly $1 billion higher than Anthropic's for the same period, but its adjusted operating margin was -122%, meaning for every $1 of revenue, the company loses $1.22. In contrast, Anthropic expects to achieve its goal of turning adjusted operating profit positive by the second quarter of this year.