Key Takeaways Anthropic is first in the process. Its public S-1 reached SEC EDGAR on October 26, 2026 with an application to list on Nasdaq as ANT; OpenAI has only the confidential draft it announcedKey Takeaways Anthropic is first in the process. Its public S-1 reached SEC EDGAR on October 26, 2026 with an application to list on Nasdaq as ANT; OpenAI has only the confidential draft it announced

新手学院/市场洞察/其他/Anthropic vs OpenAI IPO: What's Confirmed, What's Rumor, and Who Lists First

Anthropic vs OpenAI IPO: What's Confirmed, What's Rumor, and Who Lists First

初阶

Oct 27, 2026

11 分钟

Key Takeaways

Anthropic is first in the process. Its public S-1 reached SEC EDGAR on October 26, 2026 with an application to list on Nasdaq as ANT; OpenAI has only the confidential draft it announced on June 8, 2026.
OpenAI's own words rule out this year: its June notice said "we have not decided on timing yet" and its CEO told Fortune in September, "I would say not 2026."
Anthropic's listing date is still blank. Under the SEC's 15-day rule its roadshow cannot begin before November 10, 2026.
Both companies' last valuations are their own statements, not IPO valuations: Anthropic $965 billion post-money (May 28, 2026); OpenAI $852 billion post-money with $122 billion of committed capital (March 31, 2026).
Revenue is not like-for-like: Anthropic's $16.3 billion for the first half of 2026 is reported in its S-1; OpenAI's "$2 billion in revenue per month" is a company statement from March 2026.
Neither company's shares can be bought before listing; pre-IPO futures on MEXC track the expected valuation of each without conveying ownership.

Two of the largest private companies in the world entered the SEC's queue within a week of each other in June 2026.

Nearly five months later, one of them has a public registration statement, a ticker and an exchange, and the other has said it will not list this year.

This guide sets out what each company has confirmed, what is still reporting, and what would have to change for the order to flip.

Will OpenAI or Anthropic IPO First?

Anthropic, on every public fact.

It filed its registration statement publicly on October 26, 2026 and has applied to list Class A shares on the Nasdaq Global Select Market as ANT.

OpenAI confidentially submitted a draft S-1 on June 8, 2026, added that "we have not decided on timing yet," and has filed nothing publicly since.

A company cannot start a roadshow until 15 days after a public filing, so OpenAI, which has none, trails Anthropic by rule on every day it does not file and, by its own account, by far more than that in intent.

The intent is on the record.

Asked about a 2026 listing in an interview published by Fortune on September 12, 2026, Sam Altman said that "right now would be an ill-advised moment to go public" and, pressed on the year, "I would say not 2026."

Reports that OpenAI's finance chief has told staff to expect 2027 are consistent with that, but they are reports.

The order is not fixed until shares trade.

Anthropic's filing leaves the date blank, and its June notice made the offering conditional on "market conditions and other factors."

What has changed since the summer is that the gap is now visible in documents rather than inferred from leaks.

How far each company has gone through the IPO process. Source: Anthropic, PBC Form S-1, filed October 26, 2026 (SEC EDGAR); OpenAI newsroom.

OpenAI IPO Plans 2026 vs Anthropic IPO Plans 2026: What's Actually Locked In

Anthropic has a public S-1, an exchange application, a ticker, a bank syndicate and filed financials; OpenAI has a confidential submission, a company-stated valuation, a corporate form and a CEO statement ruling out 2026.

The table marks each item as confirmed by the company or reported.

Item	Anthropic	OpenAI
Confidential submission	June 1, 2026 (confirmed)	June 8, 2026 (confirmed)
Public S-1	October 26, 2026, on EDGAR (confirmed)	None as of October 27, 2026
Exchange and ticker	Nasdaq Global Select Market, ANT (confirmed, application)	Not disclosed
Underwriters	22 banks; Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC and Morgan Stanley listed first (confirmed)	Not disclosed
Earliest roadshow	November 10, 2026, by the SEC's 15-day rule (confirmed)	None scheduled; "not 2026" per the CEO (confirmed statement)
Last valuation	$965 billion post-money, Series H, May 28, 2026 (confirmed)	$852 billion post-money, $122 billion committed, March 31, 2026 (confirmed)
Corporate form	Delaware public benefit corporation; Long-Term Benefit Trust elects a board majority; founders' Class F share holds 50.1% of votes (confirmed)	OpenAI Group PBC, controlled by the nonprofit OpenAI Foundation since the October 28, 2025 recapitalization (confirmed)
Largest publicly quantified outside holder	Amazon, via $8.0 billion of convertible notes and nonvoting preferred stock (confirmed in Amazon's 10-Q; percentage in the S-1's ownership table)	Microsoft, "roughly 27 percent on an as-converted diluted basis" (confirmed, filed with Microsoft's 8-K)
Financial statements on file	Yes: audited 2023–2025 and interim revenue of $16.3 billion and net loss of $80.7 billion for the six months to June 30, 2026 (confirmed)	None public

Anthropic's column rests on its S-1 and its Series H announcement.

OpenAI's rests on three of its own posts: the recapitalization, the Microsoft partnership terms, which Microsoft also filed with the SEC, and the March 31, 2026 funding round.

Control and ownership compared. Source: Anthropic, PBC Form S-1, filed October 26, 2026 (SEC EDGAR); OpenAI newsroom; Microsoft Form 8-K.

Why Can You Read One S-1 and Not the Other?

Because the two companies are at different stages of the same process.

A confidential draft lets the SEC review a filing privately; nothing appears on EDGAR until the company chooses to file publicly, which it must do at least 15 days before its roadshow.

Anthropic made that choice on October 26.

OpenAI has not, so its draft remains invisible, and its June notice is the only thing it has published.

The SEC's procedures make the 15 days a condition of using the confidential route, so OpenAI's earliest possible roadshow is always at least 15 days after a public filing that has not happened.

What the public version of Anthropic's filing contains, section by section, is in where Anthropic's S-1 is and what's inside it.

How Do the Two IPO Timelines Compare?

Anthropic's timeline has five dated events and one floor; OpenAI's has three dated events and a statement of intent.

Anthropic's begins with a funding round, OpenAI's with the recapitalization that made a listing possible, and the two diverge in October 2026.

Date	Anthropic	OpenAI
September 2, 2025	Series F: $13 billion at $183 billion post-money
October 28, 2025		Recapitalization completed: OpenAI Group PBC under the OpenAI Foundation; Microsoft at roughly 27%
February 12, 2026	Series G: $30 billion at $380 billion
March 31, 2026		$122 billion committed at $852 billion post-money
May 28, 2026	Series H: $65 billion at $965 billion
June 1 / June 8, 2026	Confidential draft S-1 submitted	Confidential draft S-1 submitted
September 11–12, 2026		CEO: "I would say not 2026"
October 26, 2026	Public S-1 on EDGAR; Nasdaq, ANT
November 10, 2026	Earliest roadshow start

Two things the table does not show: Anthropic's price range and date, which arrive in an amended filing, and any OpenAI date at all.

Dated milestones for both companies. Source: Anthropic, PBC Form S-1, filed October 26, 2026 (SEC EDGAR); Anthropic and OpenAI newsrooms.

Which One Is Actually the Bigger Business?

By disclosed figures, Anthropic's half-year revenue annualizes above OpenAI's March monthly rate and OpenAI leads on users, but the two revenue figures cover different periods and only Anthropic's is in an SEC filing.

Anthropic's S-1 reports $16.3 billion of revenue for the six months ended June 30, 2026, up 1,368% year over year in the June quarter, with adjusted operating income of $1.6 billion.

OpenAI's March 31, 2026 post says it was "generating $2B in revenue per month," about $24 billion annualized at that date, and serving more than 900 million weekly users.

Measure	Anthropic	OpenAI
Revenue	$16.3 billion, six months to June 30, 2026 (S-1, unaudited interim)	"$2B in revenue per month" as of March 31, 2026 (company statement)
Growth	1,368% year over year, quarter ended June 30, 2026 (S-1)	Not disclosed
Profitability	Operating loss $693 million; adjusted operating income $1.6 billion; net loss $80.7 billion, mostly a non-cash charge (S-1)	Not disclosed
Customers / users	11,900+ customers above $100,000 of trailing-twelve-month revenue; ~250 above $10 million (S-1, Sept 30, 2026)	900 million+ weekly active users (March 31, 2026)
Capital raised	$141.1 billion in aggregate as of June 30, 2026 (S-1)	$122 billion committed in the March 2026 round alone (company statement)

A monthly revenue figure annualized and a six-month filed total are different measurements, and OpenAI's figure is dated three months before the end of Anthropic's period.

The guide to Anthropic's revenue and losses explains why the $80.7 billion net loss and the positive adjusted margin come from the same filing.

Each company's last announced post-money valuation. Source: Anthropic and OpenAI newsrooms.

What Could Still Change the Order?

Three things on Anthropic's side and one on OpenAI's.

Anthropic's filing can slip if the SEC's comments, Nasdaq's approval or market conditions push the roadshow past November; the filing names the "novel capital structure" and the concentration of voting power as risks investors will weigh in pricing one-vote Class A shares.

OpenAI could accelerate if it filed publicly, but its most recent statement points the other way.

The governance step that once stood between OpenAI and a listing is behind it.

Its recapitalization closed on October 28, 2025, leaving the OpenAI Foundation with a controlling stake valued by the company at about $130 billion and Microsoft at roughly 27%.

What remains is a choice of timing, and the CEO has made the 2026 choice public.

Where Do SpaceX and Databricks Fit in the Same IPO Queue?

SpaceX and Cerebras have left the queue; Databricks has not joined it.

SpaceX sold 638,888,888 Class A shares at $135.00 in June 2026, with the underwriters' option exercised in full, for about $86.2 billion gross and $85.7 billion net, and began trading on Nasdaq as SPCX on June 12.

Cerebras listed as CBRS on May 14, 2026.

Databricks has filed nothing with the SEC; its own August 13, 2026 release reported a $5 billion round at a $190 billion valuation and a revenue run-rate above $7 billion, and its CEO called 2026 a poor year to list.

The rest of the queue, including the public filings by Nscale and Oura in September 2026, is covered in the SpaceX, OpenAI, Anthropic and Databricks IPO tracker.

Can You Buy Anthropic or OpenAI Stock Before the IPO?

No, for either.

Neither company's shares trade on any exchange, Anthropic's investor notice states that transfers its board has not approved are void, and OpenAI has published no route for the public to buy.

Indirect exposure exists through public shareholders, Amazon for Anthropic and Microsoft for OpenAI, and through pre-IPO perpetual futures on MEXC, which track each company's expected valuation and convey no shares.

The ANTHROPICUSDT contract covers Anthropic.

The OPENAIUSDT contract covers OpenAI.

The Anthropic contract has a known conversion event: when ANT lists, it becomes a standard stock futures contract.

The OpenAI contract has no such date.

The three pre-listing routes and their costs are compared in can you buy Anthropic stock before the IPO.

Indirect exposure before listing, compared. Source: Anthropic, "Unauthorized Anthropic stock sales and investment scams" (Claude Help Center); Amazon Form 10-Q; Microsoft Form 8-K.

How to Spot a Fake Pre-IPO Offer

An offer of Anthropic shares that does not mention the S-1, the ticker ANT or the Nasdaq application is describing something that does not exist.

An offer of OpenAI shares that names a listing date, a ticker or an exchange is inventing all three.

Anthropic's notice adds that it does not issue stock certificates to the public and does not permit SPVs to hold its stock.

Frequently Asked Questions

Will Anthropic IPO before OpenAI?

On every public fact, yes: Anthropic has a public S-1, a ticker and an exchange application, while OpenAI has a confidential draft and a CEO who has ruled out 2026.

When is the Anthropic IPO date?

Not set; the roadshow cannot start before November 10, 2026, and pricing follows the roadshow.

When is the OpenAI IPO?

No date exists; OpenAI's June 2026 notice said timing was undecided, and its CEO said in September 2026 that it would not be 2026.

Is either company publicly traded yet?

No; Anthropic's registration is filed but not effective, and OpenAI has not filed publicly.

What will the ticker symbols be?

Anthropic has applied for ANT on Nasdaq; OpenAI has disclosed none.

Which company is worth more?

By their own last rounds, Anthropic at $965 billion (May 2026) against OpenAI at $852 billion (March 2026); neither figure is an IPO valuation.

Why is OpenAI waiting?

Its CEO called the present "an ill-advised moment to go public" in September 2026, and the company's own June notice said only that timing was undecided.

Can I buy shares in either company before it lists?

No; only indirect exposure exists, through public shareholders or pre-IPO derivatives.

Does listing first actually matter?

For investors, the first listing sets a public valuation benchmark the second will be priced against; for the companies, the order changes nothing about the businesses themselves.

Conclusion

One company has a filing and the other has a statement, and both are now in writing.

Anthropic's S-1 fixes the exchange, the ticker and the filed numbers, and leaves the date to an amendment that cannot put the roadshow before November 10.

OpenAI's own words put its listing in some later year.

Treat the order as settled in process and open in fact until ANT trades, and treat every pre-IPO price as a market's guess at the valuation the roadshow will test.

What a buyer can actually do on Anthropic's first day is in the guide to how to buy Anthropic stock.