Key Takeaways
- • Anthropic's IPO plan, which would raise nearly $70 billion, was briefly circulated to banks by email before being retracted late on Monday, according to emails seen by Reuters.
- • The retracted filing showed Anthropic aiming to sell about 867 million shares at $70 to $80 per share, with the offering raising $69.3 billion at the top of the range.
- • Anthropic said the pricing details were inaccurate and would be updated in a later filing; it declined to comment and did not specify what was erroneous.
- • The original filing showed $26 billion in private placement commitments from Alphabet's Google, Nvidia, AMD, Broadcom, Micron, Microsoft and TSMC at the IPO price.
- • Valuation expectations have fallen from as much as $2 trillion to a high end of about $1.5 trillion, per Reuters.
Summary
Details of Anthropic's planned initial public offering were briefly circulated to banks before being retracted late on Monday, according to emails seen by Reuters. A representative of the company first sent a copy of a securities filing showing plans to sell about 867 million shares at a price range of $70 to $80 per share, then followed with an email stating that the pricing details were inaccurate and that the filing would be updated later. Anthropic declined to comment, and the email did not specify what was incorrect; Reuters said it could not determine which details were wrong.
The original filing, as described in the retracted email, showed 866.7 million Class A shares offered, including a secondary component. Anthropic itself would sell about 843.3 million shares, while existing shareholders would sell 23.3 million. At the top of the range, the offering would raise $69.3 billion.
The filing also showed that Anthropic had lined up $26 billion in investments alongside the IPO from Alphabet's Google, Nvidia, Advanced Micro Devices, Broadcom, Micron Technology, Microsoft and TSMC. These companies agreed to participate in a private placement of Anthropic's Class N common stock at the IPO price, to close immediately after the offering. Reuters noted that the arrangement underscores the increasingly intertwined financial ties behind the AI boom.
Anthropic is expected to formally launch its roadshow on Tuesday, with pricing expected the following week. The timing comes as other AI infrastructure and data center companies have delayed or withdrawn listings amid rising interest rates and a selloff in shares and bonds of AI operators such as CoreWeave Inc, along with broader questions about the sustainability of AI spending. Investors had previously discussed a valuation of as much as $2 trillion, but expectations have since come down, with $1.5 trillion viewed as the high end, according to Reuters' earlier reporting.
Founded in 2021 by former OpenAI executives including Dario Amodei and his sister Daniela Amodei, now Anthropic's president, the company has become a leading generative AI developer with its Claude models. Google and Amazon are simultaneously investors, computing power suppliers and distribution partners, as well as competitors. Anthropic has nearly $900 billion in computing commitments with partners including Amazon and Google, and its growth depends on substantial future capacity, some of it reliant on financing outside the company's control. Revenue was almost $17 billion for the three months ended September 30, according to an amended filing earlier in the month, though its quarterly growth rate has declined sharply.
The original filing, as described in the retracted email, showed 866.7 million Class A shares offered, including a secondary component. Anthropic itself would sell about 843.3 million shares, while existing shareholders would sell 23.3 million. At the top of the range, the offering would raise $69.3 billion.
The filing also showed that Anthropic had lined up $26 billion in investments alongside the IPO from Alphabet's Google, Nvidia, Advanced Micro Devices, Broadcom, Micron Technology, Microsoft and TSMC. These companies agreed to participate in a private placement of Anthropic's Class N common stock at the IPO price, to close immediately after the offering. Reuters noted that the arrangement underscores the increasingly intertwined financial ties behind the AI boom.
Anthropic is expected to formally launch its roadshow on Tuesday, with pricing expected the following week. The timing comes as other AI infrastructure and data center companies have delayed or withdrawn listings amid rising interest rates and a selloff in shares and bonds of AI operators such as CoreWeave Inc, along with broader questions about the sustainability of AI spending. Investors had previously discussed a valuation of as much as $2 trillion, but expectations have since come down, with $1.5 trillion viewed as the high end, according to Reuters' earlier reporting.
Founded in 2021 by former OpenAI executives including Dario Amodei and his sister Daniela Amodei, now Anthropic's president, the company has become a leading generative AI developer with its Claude models. Google and Amazon are simultaneously investors, computing power suppliers and distribution partners, as well as competitors. Anthropic has nearly $900 billion in computing commitments with partners including Amazon and Google, and its growth depends on substantial future capacity, some of it reliant on financing outside the company's control. Revenue was almost $17 billion for the three months ended September 30, according to an amended filing earlier in the month, though its quarterly growth rate has declined sharply.
Go deeper than the headline
Research every firm in this story, track the ones that matter and get the daily briefing — free for 7 days.