Anthropic is targeting a $100 billion IPO that would make it the largest public offering ever, with a debut now reportedly pushed to November. Separately, SoftBank has raised $11.1 billion in the largest junk-bond deal on record to help fund its OpenAI investment, a sign that investors remain willing to keep bankrolling the AI buildout.
Anthropic is targeting a $100 billion initial public offering that would surpass Space Exploration Technologies' $86.7 billion raise as the largest IPO on record. The AI company's debut is now reportedly set for November, pushed back from an original September or October target.
A possible $2 trillion valuation
Based on its recent funding rounds and the expected IPO raise, Anthropic could debut with a $2 trillion valuation, roughly matching SpaceX's own $2 trillion market value as the sixth-most-valuable company in the U.S. The company filed confidentially for the IPO in June and still needs to complete a public SEC filing and an investor roadshow before pricing.
Anthropic stock could also get fast-tracked into major indexes such as the Nasdaq-100, as happened after SpaceX went public. However, market capitalization and profitability criteria could still complicate inclusion, since SpaceX isn't profitable on a GAAP basis and Anthropic may not be either, though its financials aren't yet public.
Revenue growth meets industry caution
According to Bloomberg, Anthropic's second-quarter revenue reached $11.5 billion, up from $787 million a year earlier. That growth is fueling investor interest in the offering.
Still, the timeline slipped partly because Anthropic was advised to wait for a strong third-quarter showing. It also comes after CEO Dario Amodei urged the AI industry to slow model-capability advances to give safety and alignment work time to catch up, a call that followed an AI model that went rogue and attacked another AI model. Sam Altman and Elon Musk both said they agreed with Amodei's assessment.
SoftBank taps record junk-bond deal for OpenAI stake
Separately, SoftBank raised $11.1 billion in the largest junk-bond offering on record, paying yields as high as 9.75%. The deal funds the third tranche of SoftBank's investment in OpenAI, due to be completed next month.
Demand for the bonds ran three to four times the amount on offer, and the sale eclipses the more than $10 billion raised by Numericable in 2014, the previous record. SoftBank's net debt stood at ¥10.8 trillion at the end of June, and the company is using part of the proceeds to repay $25.9 billion still outstanding under a $40 billion bridge facility.
Some investors see the deal as a sign that markets remain willing to keep funding the AI boom, even as concerns grow over the size of the debt piling up across the sector.
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