Anthropic Sets $70-$78 IPO Range, Chasing SpaceX Record Debut
Anthropic filed with the SEC to sell 825 million shares at $70 to $78 each under the ticker ANT, with trading expected November 19. Seven tech firms will add a $26 billion private placement as AI stocks wobble.
Anthropic, the maker of the Claude AI models, said in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission that it aims to sell 825 million shares at $70 to $78 each in its stock market debut. Its IPO follows the SpaceX-Anthropic markets playbook for mega-share offerings. The shares will trade under the ticker "ANT."
It would be the first listing by one of the leading AI model developers. Investors are watching it as a gauge of how long the AI spending boom lifting the US economy can last.
Deal terms
Seven tech companies, including Google, Nvidia, AMD and Microsoft, have agreed to buy $26 billion of non-voting shares at the IPO price in a separate private placement, the filing showed. They are investors in Anthropic or major suppliers of its computing power.
Anthropic had been expected to raise up to $100 billion, which would have made it the largest IPO on record. Even at the top of its range, the offering would fall short of Elon Musk's SpaceX, which raised $86 billion in its June IPO at a valuation of $1.77 trillion.
Anthropic has been aiming to go public the week of November 16. Reports said its shares would begin trading on November 19.
Revenue and risks
Anthropic's third-quarter revenue reached $17 billion, up from $1.4 billion a year earlier, according to the filing. Its annualized run-rate revenue was about $81 billion as of October 31, up $10 billion from the end of September. That figure shows what the company would earn in a year if current revenue held.
Estimates in recent months had put its valuation as high as $2 trillion. They have slipped along with a slide in AI stocks on Wall Street.
The filing devotes extensive space to risks, including concerns that advanced AI systems "could pose catastrophic or existential risks to society if not developed and deployed responsibly." It also warns that the company's public positions on AI regulation and safety could invite "political backlash, or disproportionate regulatory action."
That refers to feuds with the Trump White House. The Pentagon has labeled Anthropic a national security risk after the company refused to lift restrictions on military use of its technology.
The company has committed hundreds of billions of dollars to computing capacity. It warned that it must make many of those payments even if demand falls short.
Market backdrop
The listing comes as Wall Street digests the US midterm elections, in which Democrats, who are more wary of AI, won control of both chambers of Congress. They have vowed to put the brakes on President Donald Trump's agenda. Nvidia shares have been in focus after chief executive Jensen Huang was caught up in a spy scandal.
Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B. Riley Wealth Management, called the listing "just another chapter" in investor worries over how the AI buildout is financed. He said investors have wanted to own three companies for three years: "SpaceX for sure, Anthropic is next, and perhaps next year OpenAI."
Under the governance structure in the filings, the seven co-founders will keep just over half of shareholder votes after the listing. Chief executive Dario Amodei and his sister, president Daniela Amodei, lead the group, so outside investors cannot outvote them.
