Anthropic Is Targeting an IPO as Soon as Mid-November
Anthropic is one of the most important companies in artificial intelligence (AI), and it may soon become one of the biggest companies on the stock market. Anthropic makes the Claude family of AI tools. Claude is a leading AI model for writing computer code and doing many other kinds of business work.
Recent reports suggest that Anthropic is preparing for an IPO, which is when a company first offers its shares to the public. The company may go public around the middle of November, before the Thanksgiving holiday. What should investors know about this potentially huge IPO, which could happen soon?
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Does a lower IPO valuation mean investors have a big chance to make money quickly?
People once expected Anthropic to go public with a value of about $2 trillion. But recent developments suggest that the first shares offered for sale could have a much lower price. Reports say that slower growth and other market changes may lead the AI company to aim for a starting value of about $1.5 trillion. That is still an enormous amount. At that value, Anthropic would have the second-largest IPO in history, behind only Space Exploration Technologies.
However, everyday investors should understand that they probably will not be able to buy Anthropic shares at the initial IPO price. When a company first goes public, its first batch of shares is usually available only to large investors, such as financial institutions. For highly anticipated technology IPOs, shares often start trading on the stock market at prices well above the original IPO price.
Anthropic is a leading company in advanced AI models, so its share price could finish its first day of trading well above its initial IPO price. Recent IPO trends suggest that the stock could begin trading above its IPO price and rise even more by the end of the first day. However, this does not mean investors can count on making a large profit quickly.
SPCX Space Exploration Technologies
NASDAQ · As of 4:00 PM ET 10/20/26
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For example, SpaceX set its IPO price at $135 per share. But when its stock first began trading on the public market, it opened at $150 per share. By the end of that day, the share price had risen to $161. Just a few days later, the stock reached an all-time high of more than $225.50 per share. Since then, however, its price has fallen, and as of the time of writing, it is trading below its opening price of $150 per share.
Anthropic has impressive technology, but the value investors give the company when it goes public will almost certainly depend heavily on how quickly it grows. Because the values of AI stocks have recently been changing sharply, investors should be careful about expecting to make quick profits from an IPO. They may be better off judging whether Anthropic is a good investment over the long term.