Anthropic Files Public IPO, Plans Nasdaq Listing as ANT
Anthropic filed its public IPO paperwork on Monday, planning a Nasdaq listing as ANT. Revenue hit $16.3B in early 2026, but costs and AI risks loom large.
Anthropic, the company behind the Claude chatbot, made its stock market filing public on Monday, October 26. The filing sets up what could become one of the largest stock market debuts ever, and the first public listing by a leading AI lab.
What the filing says
Anthropic plans to list its Class A shares on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker symbol ANT. The filing does not say how many shares it will sell, at what price, or what the company will be valued at. Those details will come later, after talks with investors. The registration statement has been filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, but it is not yet effective. That means no shares can be sold until it takes effect. Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are leading the banks working on the offering. Anthropic first filed its paperwork in private in June 2026, so regulators could review it before this public step. Reports say trading could start as soon as the week of November 16, and the company could be valued at up to $2 trillion, but the filing itself sets no price or value.
Founders keep control
Anthropic will stay a public benefit corporation, which means it must balance profit for investors with developing AI for the benefit of humanity. Its founders will also keep control after the listing. A single special share, called Class F stock, will carry 50.1 percent of the votes on key company matters, including the election of some directors. A majority vote of the company's seven co-founders will direct that share. Public buyers will get Class A shares with one vote each. An independent trust will also elect a majority of the board. Anthropic says it needs this structure to keep control in fewer hands and reduce the risks of advanced AI.
Fast growth, huge costs
The filing shows very fast growth. Anthropic made $16.29 billion in revenue in the first six months of 2026, up from $1.16 billion in the same period a year earlier. Most of that money comes from businesses paying per use of its models, plus paid subscription plans such as Pro and Max. The headline loss looks far larger. Anthropic reported a net loss of $80.7 billion for those six months. Most of that was not cash spending. More than $72 billion came from a change in the fair value of convertible notes, derivatives and SAFEs, which are deals that can turn into shares. Its operating loss, which is closer to day-to-day business costs, was $693 million. Computing power is Anthropic's biggest expense. The company has committed more than $500 billion in spending with six partners over a decade. That includes at least $110 billion with Amazon, about $114.5 billion with Google and $44.9 billion with Microsoft for cloud computing over the next seven to 10 years. Amazon and Google are also among its largest shareholders, which shows how closely the AI industry's money now moves in a circle.
Why this IPO matters
This listing will test how much appetite Wall Street still has for AI. Investors have grown uneasy about debt-funded AI spending, and they are asking whether the trillions going into data centers, chips and computing power will pay back fast enough. The filing also lays out the risks in unusual detail. It lists 93 pages of risk factors, including four broad kinds of AI risk: misuse, such as bioweapons or cyberattacks; loss of human control; authoritarian abuse, such as surveillance states; and economic disruption. It warns that its models may behave in unintended ways and may take harmful actions that no user or third party directed. If the debut goes well, it will set a benchmark for how public markets value leading AI companies, including rival OpenAI. If it struggles, it will signal that even the strongest AI names must now prove their spending can turn into profit.
Sources
- Reuters - https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/anthropics-ipo-close-look-ai-frontrunners-rapid-growth-spiraling-costs-2026-10-26/ - Reuters - https://www.reuters.com/legal/transactional/anthropic-opens-books-ais-explosive-growth-staggering-costs-2026-10-26/ - CNN - https://www.cnn.com/2026/10/26/tech/anthropic-files-ipo?cid=external-feeds_iluminar_meta - The Hindu BusinessLine - https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/markets/anthropic-files-for-us-ipo-plans-nasdaq-listing-under-ticker-symbol-ant/article71627566.ece