Goldman Sachs Takes on Massive Anthropic IPO Test
This article first appeared on GuruFocus.
Anthropic is getting closer to one of Wall Street's most expected stock market launches, known as an initial public offering (IPO). On Monday, the company filed paperwork showing that its revenue had grown very quickly but that it had also reported a huge net loss of $80.7 billion. The company behind Claude plans to list its shares on the Nasdaq. Its IPO could become an important test of how willing investors are to buy AI stocks, especially as concerns grow about high company values and spending on the equipment and systems needed to run AI.
Founded in 2021, Anthropic makes Claude, an AI assistant used by businesses and everyday users for writing code, doing research, and automating work tasks. The company earns money from paid subscriptions, business contracts, and fees based on how much customers use its AI models.
Anthropic filed its S-1 registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission on October 26. It plans to trade under the stock symbol ANT. Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) and Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) will lead the stock offering.
During the first six months of 2026, Anthropic earned $16.3 billion in revenue. During the same period a year earlier, its revenue was about $1.2 billion.
However, the reported loss needs some explanation.
Of Anthropic's $80.7 billion net loss, about $72.4 billion came from changes in the reported value of convertible debt and related financial products. These changes did not involve actual cash payments.
The company's operating loss was much smaller, at $693 million. That was down from about $2.1 billion a year earlier. This suggests that the business itself may be moving toward making a profit, even though it still needs to spend huge amounts on the infrastructure required to run its AI systems.
Anthropic also reported that it had $131.7 billion in cash and short-term investments on June 30.
Another important detail concerns who controls the company. Anthropic's seven co-founders will keep 50.1% of the voting power through a special type of share. This means ordinary shareholders will have limited influence over company decisions.
What investors should watch next
The biggest unanswered question is how much the company will be worth.
Reports suggest that Anthropic could be valued at $1.5 trillion to $2 trillion. Based on its revenue for the first half of the year, multiplied to estimate a full year, that would mean a value of about 46 to 61 times its annualized first-half revenue. This is a very high price, even for an AI company that is growing quickly.
Investors should pay attention to the final price range for the IPO, the company's operating profit margins, its commitments to spend on infrastructure, and whether demand from business customers can continue at its current level.
Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL), two of Anthropic's major partners, are also scheduled to report their earnings this week. Their reports could offer more information about how much companies are investing in AI infrastructure.
In the end, Anthropic's planned November stock market debut could help show how much investors are willing to pay for the AI industry's remarkable growth.