AI giant Anthropic says it plans to list on US stock market

Lead

Anthropic, the artificial intelligence company behind the chatbot Claude, has confidentially filed for an initial public offering (IPO) in the United States, according to multiple reports. The move could make Anthropic one of the first major AI companies to list on the stock market this year, setting up a high-stakes test of whether investor enthusiasm for AI matches the sector's soaring valuations.

The company filed confidential paperwork with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Monday, as reported by Al Jazeera, BBC — World, and France 24 — English. Confidential submissions allow companies to advance IPO preparations while keeping sensitive financial details private. Anthropic did not disclose the size or terms of the offering, according to Al Jazeera.

Coverage Comparison

Reports from Al Jazeera, BBC — World, and France 24 — English all confirm that Anthropic has filed for an IPO. The BBC — World report notes that the company plans to become a public company in the US, and France 24 — English adds that the market debut could come by the end of the year.

Deutsche Welle also covered the IPO filing, framing it within the rivalry between Anthropic and OpenAI. According to Deutsche Welle, Anthropic's move caught OpenAI off guard, with ChatGPT's owner announcing its own IPO plans a week later.

The coverage consistently highlights Anthropic's recent $65 billion funding round, which valued the company at $965 billion, surpassing OpenAI's $852 billion valuation. Al Jazeera and France 24 — English report that the funding round was led by Altimeter Capital, Greenoaks, Dragoneer, and Sequoia Capital, with participation from cloud giants including Amazon.

Key Claims

• IPO Filing: Anthropic has filed confidential paperwork with the US SEC for an IPO, as reported by Al Jazeera, BBC — World, Deutsche Welle, and France 24 — English.
• Valuation: Anthropic is valued at $965 billion, making it more valuable than OpenAI, which is valued at $852 billion, according to multiple sources.
• Funding Round: Anthropic raised $65 billion in a new funding round, as reported by Al Jazeera and France 24 — English.
• OpenAI's IPO Plans: OpenAI announced its own IPO plans a week after Anthropic's filing, according to Deutsche Welle.
• Timing of Market Debut: Anthropic could make its market debut by the end of the year, as reported by France 24 — English.
• Claude's Popularity: Anthropic's Claude chatbot has over 1 million new sign-ups per day, a claim carried by Al Jazeera.
• Global AI Spending: Global AI spending is estimated to exceed $2.5 trillion this year, a figure attributed to research firm Gartner in Deutsche Welle's report.
• SpaceX IPO: SpaceX is also planning an IPO, according to Al Jazeera and France 24 — English reports.

Perspectives

Anthropic's View: Anthropic's chief financial officer, Krishna Rao, said the funding will help the company "serve the historic demand we are experiencing, stay at the research frontier, and bring Claude to more of the places where work happens," as quoted by Al Jazeera and France 24 — English.

Investor Sentiment: Altimeter Capital CEO Brad Gerstner hailed the adoption of Claude among the "world's most demanding organisations" as evidence of Anthropic's command in the field, according to Al Jazeera. "This momentum positions Anthropic to lead the next phase of AI innovation and capture the enormous opportunity ahead," Gerstner said.

Market Analyst View: Troy Hooper, a leader of equity capital markets at Mergermarket, was quoted by BBC — World as saying, "Neither Anthropic nor OpenAI wants to be the last major AI pure-play to list. The first mover has a real chance to define how public markets value generative AI, setting up the yardstick that investors will use to measure everyone else."