OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, has confidentially filed paperwork for a stock market listing in the United States. If it goes ahead, the IPO could become one of the biggest and most valuable public offerings in history, with OpenAI currently valued at more than $850 billion.
OpenAI’s IPO announcement comes just weeks after its biggest rival, Anthropic, the maker of the Claude chatbot, revealed that it had also confidentially filed for a US stock market listing.
Meanwhile, Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which owns artificial intelligence company xAI, is also reportedly preparing for a public offering. The company is expected to seek a valuation of about $1.75 trillion.
OpenAI confirms confidential IPO filing
Sam Altman’s firm confirmed that it submitted a confidential S-1 filing to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), a key document required before a company can launch an initial public offering.
“We recently submitted a confidential S-1. We expect it to leak, so we’re just announcing it,” OpenAI said in its post.
The company also stressed that no final decision has been made on when it will go public.
“We have not decided on timing yet; it may be a while because there are things we want to do that are likely easier as a private company. But it’s a complicated set of tradeoffs, and this gives us the option to go public sooner if that ends up being best.”
For the unversed, a confidential filing allows regulators to review a company’s financial information and discuss any concerns before those details become available to investors and the public.
Valuation tops $850 billion despite profitability concerns
OpenAI raised $122 billion in a funding round in March, according to The Wall Street Journal, giving the company a valuation of roughly $852 billion.
The eye-popping valuation comes despite concerns over the company’s ability to turn a profit. Reports have indicated that OpenAI has struggled to meet some revenue and user-growth targets, even as investor enthusiasm around AI remains strong.
Musk lawsuit cleared a major hurdle
The IPO filing also follows a legal victory for OpenAI in a lawsuit brought by Elon Musk. Musk had argued that OpenAI improperly shifted from its original non-profit mission to a for-profit model, enriching the company and its founders in the process. He sought to force OpenAI back into a non-profit structure.
A nine-member jury panel ultimately ruled that the claims fell outside the statute of limitations and found OpenAI not liable.
OpenAI’s planned market debut caps a remarkable journey that began in 2015 when it was launched as a non-profit AI research lab led by CEO Sam Altman. After spending years developing generative AI technology, the company introduced ChatGPT to the public in 2022 and later shifted to a for-profit structure.