Anthropic targets $1.4 trillion valuation in IPO filing

Anthropic on Tuesday set IPO terms that target a fully diluted valuation of about $1.4 trillion, according to a Business Times report on the company's SEC filing. The company and its co-founders are seeking to raise as much as $90.4 billion across the offering and a private placement, with the base IPO raising up to $64.4 billion and shares marketed at $70 to $78 each. MarketWatch reported the updated prospectus shows plans to sell 801.3 million shares at that range, with existing shareholders selling 23.6 million more, and puts the valuation above $1 trillion.

At the top of the price range, the company would have a market value of about $1 trillion based on shares outstanding, and about $1.4 trillion fully diluted after counting options, restricted shares and stock reserved for its donation matching program, the filing showed. AOL reported the company values itself at nearly $1.3 trillion in the new filing, lower than some previous estimates of $2 trillion, and will trade under the ticker "ANT".

The filing also discloses a private placement set to raise $26 billion in aggregate from Advanced Micro Devices, Broadcom, Alphabet's Google, Micron Technology, Microsoft, Nvidia and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are leading the IPO with participation from 20 other banks, and terms reviewed by Bloomberg set pricing for Nov 18 and trading the following day.

Anthropic reported a revenue run rate of $81 billion as of Oct 31, up $10 billion from the end of September, and third-quarter revenue of nearly $17 billion versus $1.4 billion a year earlier. The company defines run rate as annualizing consumption-based fees for a trailing 28-day period and subscription-based fees for one month. Total operating expenses reached $17.5 billion in the third quarter, up 292%, and the company swung to an operating loss of $567 million from a $974 million profit in the second quarter. Pricing reductions and contractual discounts cut third-quarter revenue growth by about $600 million.

The filing shows commitments of nearly $901 billion, mostly for computing power and chips, with about $71 billion due in the year through Sept 30, 2027. More than 90% of contributions to Anthropic's code base were written by Claude, according to the filing. The company introduced new versions of its Mythos and Fable models on Monday; both are faster than prior versions, and Fable is also less expensive.

Anthropic has raised tens of billions from asset managers, venture firms and large tech companies; Fidelity Investments, Capital Group, BlackRock, Iconiq, Spark Capital and Sequoia Capital hold shares, while Google, Amazon and Microsoft are backers, customers and computing suppliers. Rival OpenAI is targeting a 2027 listing and raising funds at a $1.25 trillion valuation, people familiar with the matter said.

Anthropic was founded by former OpenAI executives who left to prioritize AI safety, and it is structured as a public benefit corporation whose long-term benefit trust can elect and remove a majority of board members. The company warned in its IPO filing that AI could pose "catastrophic or existential risks to humanity" if developed without adequate safeguards and oversight. CEO Dario Amodei is among those calling for top AI labs to "pace the frontier" for safety, and the seven co-founders are each offering 3.38 million shares in the IPO. They each hold roughly 1.4% stakes, the filing showed.