OpenAI Barrels Toward IPO That Could Value Company at $1 Trillion by September

OpenAI barrels toward IPO that may happen in September | TechCrunch

A day after Elon Musk lost his lawsuit that threatened OpenAI's structure, leadership, and finances, the AI giant is ready to move forward with its initial public offering, sources told the Wall Street Journal. OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman reportedly hopes that his company will be ready to go public by September. The ChatGPT maker has been working with tech IPO powerhouse bankers Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, and may file IPO paperwork confidentially with regulators within days or weeks, per the WSJ. The news of OpenAI's potential IPO, which by all accounts should be a blockbuster, comes as the world awaits the public disclosure of SpaceX's IPO filings, which are expected to appear as soon as Wednesday, according to reports. Rocket-maker SpaceX is, of course, now one of OpenAI's major competitors, after it consumed Elon Musk's model maker, xAI. Now that Musk failed to skewer OpenAI, the competitor he co-founded, through the heart with a lawsuit, it looks like the next Musk vs. Altman battle will take place in the world of finance. Which one will be the bigger IPO? OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

ChatGPT Creator OpenAI Could Go Public Soon in Major Market Move

Blake has over a decade of experience writing for the web, with a focus on mobile phones, where he covered the smartphone boom of the 2010s and the broader tech scene. When he's not in front of a keyboard, you'll most likely find him playing video games or watching horror movies. OpenAI, the creator of Chat GPT, is preparing to file for an initial public offering in the coming days or weeks, according to a report Wednesday by The Wall Street Journal. People familiar with the matter have told the publication that the AI company, led by CEO Sam Altman, is actively working with bankers in preparation for the filing. OpenAI's popular chatbot continues to shape public perception of AI, despite strides made by competitors such as Google's Gemini and Anthropic's Claude. ChatGPT, which relies on a large language model trained to mimic human writing, remains the most widely used, but it's far from the only game in town. Both Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley have been assisting OpenAI in drafting IPO documentation and may file it with regulators as soon as Friday, according to The Journal. On Monday, a jury dismissed all claims in Elon Musk's lawsuit against Altman, which paved the way for IPO talks. OpenAI could make its public debut as soon as September, but the plan could change, The Journal reported. Whether the company can generate enough revenue to support its spending is an uncertainty that may concern prospective investors. An OpenAI didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. (Disclosure: Ziff Davis, CNET's parent company, in 2025 filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.) An IPO for OpenAI is a high-stakes event: Opening its books to the public presents opportunities and risks. Selling shares can raise billions of dollars and garner a lot of interest and capital, which could, in turn, fund the immense computing power needed to train next-generation AI models. "OpenAI is one of the rare private companies whose products are already used daily by hundreds of millions of users," says assistant professor of finance at Cornell University, Minmo Gahng. "That kind of household-name recognition could generate substantial retail demand and support a richer valuation than fundamentals alone would justify." At the same time, AI hype is at an all-time high. Public companies must regularly disclose financial records, and investors could panic if revenue growth doesn't keep pace with OpenAI's astronomical operational and infrastructure expenses. If the stock debuts at an inflated price, any minor setback could trigger a stock crash. Going public also invites scrutiny and oversight from regulatory agencies, like the Securities and Exchange Commission, which could expose hidden liabilities, data privacy lawsuits or copyright issues. A public market rush is underway among SpaceX and Anthropic, as well. The timing of OpenAI's public offering marks a sprint to tap into public capital and set Wall Street's valuation rules for the entire AI sector. A major bottleneck in the AI race is compute power -- physical servers, chips, and data centers required to train and power AI models and systems.

OpenAI's IPO Filing Might Be Just Days Away: Report

With its trial wrapped up, the company behind ChatGPT is ready to let things rip. OpenAI, one of the companies most responsible for pushing generative AI into the mainstream with its popular ChatGPT LLM, could file for an initial public offering (IPO) by the end of this week. The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday, citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter, that OpenAI is working with Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley on paperwork for an IPO. The company reportedly plans to file confidentially with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in the coming days or weeks, possibly as early as Friday. The plan is reportedly to give the public a chance to buy a piece of the company as early as September. The New York Times, also citing unnamed sources, reported that the company is closely watching the stock market and that the timing of the filing remains in flux. OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Gizmodo. A spokesperson for the AI company, however, did tell The New York Times, “As part of normal governance, we regularly evaluate a range of strategic options. Our focus remains on execution.†The reports arrive as OpenAI has just overcome a major hurdle in its quest to go public. On Monday, a federal court rejected Elon Musk’s lawsuit claiming OpenAI illegally converted to a for-profit business. Musk, who co-founded OpenAI before later becoming one of its biggest critics, argued that the company had strayed from its original mission. Musk has said he plans to appeal the verdict. The reports also come as the next phase of the AI arms race heads to Wall Street. OpenAI rivals Anthropic and SpaceX are also reportedly eyeing going public this year. SpaceX, Musk’s rocket and satellite company, merged with Musk’s AI company xAI earlier this year. Now, SpaceX is expected to unveil its IPO paperwork this week and could launch its public offering in June, according to The Wall Street Journal. Meanwhile, previous reports have suggested that Anthropic could also file for an IPO this year. The company has seen major growth, becoming OpenAI’s biggest rival, and is reportedly currently raising more than $30 billion at a $900 billion valuation. But Anthropic is still facing its own hurdles. Earlier this year, the Trump administration labeled the company a supply chain risk. This all matters because the first major AI company, outside of already established tech giants like Google and Meta, to go public could get first dibs on a broad pool of Wall Street investors eager to get in on the AI boom.

The big questions OpenAI's trillion-dollar IPO filing may finally answer | Fortune

OpenAI's hotly anticipated IPO may be coming sooner than expected. Hot on the heels of co-founder Elon Musk filing for a trillion-dollar SpaceX offering, the ChatGPT maker is preparing to file its own confidential IPO paperwork, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal. The filing could pave the way for a public listing as soon as September. The AI lab's last private funding round valued the company at $852 billion, but the company could be valued at up to $1 trillion by the time it goes public. A $1 trillion IPO, which would closely follow SpaceX's record-breaking listing, would be one of the largest wealth events in Silicon Valley history. It would also test whether public markets are willing to bankroll the staggering cost of the AI race and back the heavily loss-making OpenAI. OpenAI remains deeply unprofitable, and executives have reportedly grown concerned about whether the company could finance future compute contracts after missing internal revenue and user-growth targets. The company's need for data centers, chips, and cloud capacity means it needs to keep spending, and investors will have to decide whether they believe the company can turn that spending into durable profits. Its debut would also set the tone for the next wave of AI listings, including OpenAI's arch rival Anthropic, which is reportedly aiming for its own IPO later this year. It's unclear when exactly the company plans to file the paperwork or go public. Companies are allowed to file confidentially with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and receive feedback from the regulator before making their S-1 public at a time of their choosing. But the S-1 must be published at least 15 days before the company begins its "road show" to sell its initial order book of shares to investors. That road show, in turn, usually takes place about one to two weeks before the company conducts the IPO. It has been reported that OpenAI may make its confidential filing with the SEC as soon as today. According to The Information, the OpenAI CEO told staff this week that filing for an IPO is different from being ready to go public, and that the company would not list until it was ready. The company's S-1 may not arrive for weeks or even months. But whenever the filing does drop, it will certainly be a treasure trove. Here's what investors will be looking for. How bad is the burn? This is the big one. OpenAI's filing will detail exactly how much cash the company is burning on training its models, serving those models on its existing cloud computing infrastructure, building out more data center capacity, and hiring exceptionally pricey AI talent. It should also give investors some indication of whether that burn rate has been trending downwards as OpenAI's revenues have grown and when the company can reasonably expect to turn at least an operating profit. How investors react to those number will matter to the whole AI industry. If investors are willing to buy into a company spending at this scale, it suggests the market still has tolerance for AI's cash bonfire. If they balk, it could make life more complicated for the next wave of AI listings, including Anthropic. Public market investors have sometimes been willing to tolerate money-losing tech companies in the past. Amazon, Uber, and Spotify for example, were both unprofitable for years after their respective IPOs. WeWork, on the other hand, had to pull its IPO over investors learned how deeply unprofitable the company was. Two years later, WeWork filed for bankruptcy. Who stands to gain from the IPO? OpenAI has an infamously complex structure. Founded as a non-profit, the company finalized its transition into a for-profit public benefit corporation in October 2025. Microsoft owns roughly 27% of OpenAI's new public benefit corporation structure, while the OpenAI Foundation owns 26%. Current and former employees and other investors hold the rest. A $1 trillion listing would turn those stakes into enormous wealth. Microsoft's stake alone would be worth roughly $270 billion before dilution, while the nonprofit foundation's stake would be worth roughly $260 billion. OpenAI president Greg Brockman has already testified that his holdings are worth nearly $30 billion, a figure that could rise to roughly $35 billion at a trillion-dollar valuation. The filing should also give a much clearer picture of the company's ownership structure, including how much equity is held by insiders, employees, and investors. What is Sam Altman's stake and compensation? There have been persistent questions hanging over Altman's stake in OpenAI. OpenAI's CEO previously said he did not directly own equity in the company, though he recently clarified in court that he has a passive stake through Y Combinator. If Altman has received equity or a new compensation package under OpenAI's public benefit corporation structure, the S-1 should spell that out as well. It should also show how much he is paid and any performance awards. What does it cost to serve OpenAI's models? Revenue growth is only half the story for OpenAI; there are also questions around what the company spends to generate that revenue and what its so-called "unit economics" are. In other words: for every token the company serves to a user, how much is it costing it to produce that token? If the S-1 gives any meaningful window into model-serving costs, it could help shed light on whether these products can become truly profitable at scale. That question is especially important because generative AI does not have the same economics as traditional software. While SaaS products often have relatively low marginal costs per additional user, AI systems incur compute costs every time they generate a response. As usage of tools like ChatGPT, Codex, and APIs grows, providers must scale GPU infrastructure, although efficiency gains and model optimization can reduce the cost per request over time. How much is spent on compute vs. talent? OpenAI's S-1 should also show how its spending breaks down. How much is going toward compute, cloud contracts, chips, and data centers? How much is going toward salaries for some of the most expensive technical talent in the world? OpenAI has used equity to recruit and retain some of the most sought-after technical talent in the world. The filing should also show how much stock-based compensation it is issuing, how much dilution existing shareholders face, and how much employee wealth is already baked into the company. What is the revenue mix? The Information recently reported that OpenAI generated nearly $6 billion in revenue in the first quarter alone, helped in part by rapid adoption of its popular coding tool, Codex. The S-1 should spell out exactly where that revenue is coming from. How much is ChatGPT subscriptions? How much is enterprise? How much is API usage? How much is coding products like Codex? Different revenue streams will give a clearer picture of OpenAI's customer base. Lots of enterprise revenue may make OpenAI look more durable, while heavy reliance on consumer subscriptions or usage-based API spending could raise questions about churn and margins. What risks does OpenAI identify? The risk section could be unusually revealing. OpenAI will likely have to address standard IPO questions such as competition, customer concentration, dependence on partners, and the need for huge amounts of capital. But OpenAI isn't just facing standard problems. The company's own executives have repeatedly acknowledged that their technology might just wipe out all of humanity, help people construct bioweapons, and orchestrate massive coordinated cyberattacks. The company is also facing a wave of lawsuits over the psychological harms of its technology. OpenAI may have to address everything from national security concerns to psychological risks to the possibility that governments impose much stricter rules on frontier AI systems.

OpenAI Aiming For IPO Within 'Weeks,' Source Tells Reuters

May 20 (Reuters) - OpenAI is preparing to confidentially file for a U.S. initial public offering in the coming weeks, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Wednesday. The plan by the ChatGPT maker, which was last valued at $852 billion, comes two days after it fended off an existential court challenge from Elon Musk and threatens to upstage an IPO filing by Musk's SpaceX, expected later in the day. OpenAI is aiming to go public as early as September and is working with Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley on a draft IPO prospectus that it plans to file with the regulators soon, the source said. The AI company did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. The Wall Street Journal first reported on the company's plans. OpenAI had raised $122 billion earlier this year, likely marking Silicon Valley's largest-ever funding round. But in recent months, it has revised its product roadmap twice amid competition from rivals, first Google and then Anthropic, with some industry watchers expecting Anthropic's revenue growth to surpass OpenAI's within months to come. OpenAI was considering filing with securities regulators as soon as the second half of 2026, Reuters had exclusively reported last year. (Reporting by Utkarsh Shetti and Pritam Biswas in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar and Arun Koyyur)

Sam Altman's OpenAI preparing to file for blockbuster IPO soon: report

OpenAI is preparing to file for an initial public offering in the coming days or weeks, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter. The ChatGPT maker is working with bankers at firms, including Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, on a draft IPO prospectus that it plans to file confidentially with regulators soon, possibly as early as Friday, the report said. OpenAI did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. Reuters could not independently verify the report. The AI company was considering filing with securities regulators as soon as the second half of 2026, Reuters has reported.

OpenAI set to file confidential IPO prospectus this week By Investing.com

Investing.com -- OpenAI is preparing to file a confidential IPO prospectus within the coming days or weeks, potentially as early as Friday, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal, citing sources familiar with the matter. OpenAI is working with bankers from Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to draft the IPO prospectus. The artificial intelligence company is targeting a public debut as early as September, though the timeline remains subject to change. The move comes after OpenAI recently won a legal battle against co-founder Elon Musk, clearing a significant obstacle to the offering. Musk has indicated plans to appeal the decision. OpenAI faces questions about its ability to generate sufficient revenue to match its substantial data-center spending obligations. The company is also confronting increased competition from rival Anthropic, which has experienced faster recent growth driven by widespread workplace adoption. OpenAI is currently implementing a major strategic pivot in response to the competitive pressure.