CEO Sam Altman reportedly does not want OpenAI to be valued at less than $1trn at IPO.
OpenAI is reportedly mulling over delaying its initial public offering (IPO) to 2027, after a strong SpaceX debut was followed by a drop in share value.
The ChatGPT parent filed to go public earlier this month, but said that it could be a “while” before it ceases to be a private company. Sources told The New York Times (NYT) that the company was aiming for a debut in the third or the fourth quarter of this year.
SpaceX – which raised a record-breaking $85.7bn in its IPO listing this month – is considered to be a litmus test for giant AI businesses, as both industry and individual consumers continue to drive up demand for their services.
AI search start-up Perplexity’s CEO recently warned of “ripple effects” if blockbuster IPOs of AI companies fail to meet expectations. The SpaceX IPO “will definitely be like a leading indicator to how Anthropic or OpenAI will go out,” he said.
Anthropic is expected to be valuated at more than $1trn following its debut, and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman reportedly wants the same for his AI start-up.
Advisers, however, have told Altman that an IPO in 2026 could value the company at less than $1trn, and instead offered the option of waiting until 2027, NYT reported yesterday (25 June).
One source said that any changes to the $1trn valuation was a “nonstarter” for the CEO. OpenAI was last valued at $852bn following a $122bn raise in late March.
Concerns arose for OpenAI after a stellar SpaceX debut, which raised the Elon Musk company to a valuation of more than $1.7trn, was followed by a slump in shares. At their peak, SpaceX shares were valued at nearly $202 apiece, but have now dropped to $153 per share as of market close yesterday.
Prices have further dropped marginally in after-hours trading, but remain higher than its debut price of $135 a share.
Technology stocks are also tumbling over doubts around whether AI would make good on promised returns. Chip stocks, meanwhile, are gaining as businesses spend hundreds of billions on their AI stack to meet demand.
Despite hopes to be valued at more than $1trn, OpenAI is far from being profitable. The AI start-up made around $13bn in revenue last year and plans to spend about $600bn on computing capacity by 2030. It generates around $2bn in revenue a month.
Sources told CNBC earlier this year that the company projects its total revenue for 2030 to be more than $280bn – around 20-times its 2025 earnings.
Meanwhile, after years of sharp growth in ChatGPT users, OpenAI finds its user base hovering around 900m.
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