Anthropic closes in on public IPO filing

Anthropic could make its IPO paperwork public as soon as Friday, October 23. Yahoo Finance reported the timeline Wednesday, citing people familiar with the company's plans. Read more: Anthropic closes in on public IPO filing

Anthropic, maker of the Claude chatbot, confidentially submitted a draft registration statement, called an S-1, to the Securities and Exchange Commission in June. Companies that file confidentially must make the documents public at least 15 calendar days before pitching shares to investors on a roadshow, according to Benzinga and PYMNTS.

A public filing now would clear the way for a possible November listing. Anthropic did not respond to requests for comment from Yahoo Finance or Benzinga.

Revenue climbs as losses mount

The draft filing, reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, showed Anthropic's revenue at $16.3 billion for the first six months of 2026, up from $1.1 billion a year earlier. Anthropic told prospective investors last week that third-quarter revenue rose 45% to $16.8 billion, up from $11.6 billion in the second quarter, according to Benzinga.

The same filing showed a net loss of $80.7 billion for the first half of 2026, compared with a $13 billion loss a year earlier, the Journal reported. About $72 billion of that loss came from accounting charges tied to changes in the value of convertible notes Anthropic issued to raise money, Benzinga and Al Jazeera reported.

The filing also detailed more than $600 billion in long-term computing commitments, including $111 billion owed to Alphabet's Google Cloud, $110 billion to Amazon and $31 billion to Microsoft, Benzinga reported.

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Those cloud computing contracts must largely be paid regardless of how much Anthropic actually uses, according to a VKTR review of the filing.

About one-fifth of Anthropic's first-half revenue came from two unnamed customers, the filing showed, according to the VKTR review.

"For the IPO, I do think investors will care less about whether the concentration exists today and much more about whether Anthropic can show that the next several billion dollars of revenue are coming from a broader customer base," said Shay Boloor, chief market strategist at Futurum, in comments to Inc. cited by VKTR.

OpenAI rushes to close its round

While Anthropic moves toward its IPO, OpenAI is racing to close a roughly $30 billion funding round before Anthropic's financial disclosures become public, Reuters reported Oct. 19. The round could value OpenAI above $1.4 trillion, according to Reuters, which said SoftBank and Abu Dhabi's sovereign fund MGX are among the investors in talks.

CNBC reported Thursday that the round could instead value OpenAI near $1.25 trillion before new money comes in, a lower figure than Reuters cited, and neither report explains the gap.

OpenAI has called the round "opportunistic" financing that could serve as a bridge toward its own future stock offering, PYMNTS reported. OpenAI told prospective investors its annualized revenue is nearing $50 billion, short of an internal goal of about $70 billion for the year, according to PYMNTS.

Neither company has confirmed final terms, and Anthropic has not confirmed that Friday's filing will happen as described. A public filing would start the 15-day countdown SEC rules require before Anthropic can launch a formal investor roadshow.