Anthropic Files for IPO: Sales Surge, Costs Mount and Spending Plans Top $500 Billion

The company that makes Claude is preparing for a possible stock market debut in November. This move gives investors a closer look at its remarkable growth. But there is more to the story.

🔔 A major stock market listing takes shape

• Anthropic made its filing to go public available to the public on Monday. It has applied to list its shares on the Nasdaq stock exchange under the symbol ANT. Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are leading the share sale.
• The AI startup has not yet announced the price of its shares or how many shares it plans to sell. So, the filing starts the process but does not answer the biggest question: how much investors will pay.
• According to The Wall Street Journal, the company hopes to start trading during the week of November 16, although the date could change. The share sale could raise $100 billion or more and value the company at between $1.5 trillion and $2 trillion.
• The company's fast growth helps explain why investors are paying attention. Revenue in the first six months of the year reached $16.3 billion, up from about $1.2 billion in the same period a year earlier. However, Anthropic warns that its growth could slow and that it may struggle to remain profitable.

💰 The reported loss needs a closer look

• Anthropic reported a net loss of $80.7 billion in the first six months of the year. This included a $72.4 billion accounting charge linked to financing agreements. The large reported loss does not mean the company spent $80.7 billion more in cash than it received.
• The company's operating loss fell to $693 million, while its adjusted operating income was positive at $1.62 billion.
• Operating results give a clearer picture of how the business is doing, although adjusted figures leave out some costs.

⚖️ Investors see both growth and limits

• The filing also explains risks from powerful AI, including people using it for harmful purposes, manipulating others, or behaving in ways that resemble blackmail.
• People who buy shares in the public offering will have limited power over how the company is controlled. A special share held through an organization set up by Anthropic's seven co-founders will have 50.1% of the voting power.
• Anthropic's Long-Term Benefit Trust generally keeps the power to appoint most of the board members. This means people who buy shares must accept a company structure in which control is unusually concentrated.