The Claude maker’s stock-market debut is seen as a litmus test for investors on edge over the AI trade
From October: Reporter Anissa Gardizy walks through the key details in Anthropic’s IPO filling. Photo Illustration: Sean Havey. watch the video HERE
By Berber Jin and Corrie Driebusch, The Wall Street Journal
Anthropic will seek a valuation of around $1.33 trillion in its initial public offering, forging ahead with its stock-market debut despite concerns that the artificial-intelligence boom is on shaky ground.
The maker of the popular Claude AI tool said in a filing Tuesday that it would sell 825 million shares at a range of $70 to $78 apiece, giving it a valuation of roughly $1.26 trillion to $1.41 trillion.
At the midpoint price, Anthropic is in line to raise more than $61 billion. The company also plans to raise an additional $26 billion from big investors includingAlphabet’sGoogle andAdvanced Micro Devices, the filing shows.
Anthropic is meeting with prospective investors this week and shares are expected to start trading Thursday of next week, according to people familiar with the matter.
Anthropic’s IPO is seen as a litmus test for markets on edge over the AI trade.
Its targeted valuation is far below the roughly $2 trillion figure that had been floated months ago. As recently as a week ago, investors anticipated the company to target a valuation around $1.5 trillion, but after the steep selloff Thursday in AI companies, major investors pushed for it to be lower.
In addition to raising money for the company, certain Anthropic executives and founding members plan to sell around 23.6 million shares in the offering, the filing revealed. Anthropic Chief Executive Dario Amodei, his sister, President Daniela Amodei, and five other co-founders each plan to sell around $250 million worth of shares in the offering, leaving them with stakes worth around $18 billion each.
Anthropic executives have been huddling with bankers fromGoldman SachsandMorgan Stanleyin recent days to discuss where to set the valuation range. Set sights too high, and investor demand could suffer and shares could drop, while settling too low could open the company and its bankers up to criticism that they will have left money on the table.
The company plans to list on the Nasdaq under the ticker “ANT.”
Even before recent volatility, investor enthusiasm had been waning for AI names tied to increasing concerns about the massive investments required and a lack of clarity on their potential payoff. Anthropic rival OpenAI raised less than half of what it initially targeted for its latest funding round at a lower-than-targeted valuation of $1.25 trillion.
At the planned valuation, Anthropic’s IPO won’t topSpaceX’s record-breaking June offering. Elon Musk’s rocket maker was valued at around $1.77 trillion when it made its debut. But when combining the share placement to big investors and the planned offering, Anthropic could find itself raising more than $80 billion for itself and selling shareholders, comparable to the $75 billion SpaceX raised.
In its filing, Anthropic said that its run rate, a metric used to estimate annual revenue, was approximately $81 billion as of the end of October, confirming The Wall Street Journal’s earlier reporting.
