OpenAI is pushing its initial public offering timeline back to 2027. CEO Sam Altman has reportedly set a firm target: a valuation starting with a "T" for trillion.
The delay puts the ChatGPT creator behind Anthropic, which confidentially filed its S-1 registration statement in June 2026. Anthropic is positioned to potentially list on the public markets first.
OpenAI's last private valuation was between $730 billion and $852 billion. Closing that gap to reach $1 trillion requires significant growth. The company projects roughly $13 billion in revenue for 2025 and recently hit a monthly run-rate of $2 billion. However, massive infrastructure spending keeps the company unprofitable.
CFO Sarah Friar has advocated for more time to stabilize the financial profile before facing the quarterly scrutiny of public investors.
The decision follows the recent public market debut of SpaceX. Elon Musk's rocket company raised over $85 billion at a ~$1.77 trillion valuation, but its shares declined sharply after listing.
Anthropic, the maker of Claude, last held a private valuation near $965 billion. For pre-IPO investors in both firms, OpenAI's delay means another year of waiting for a liquid public exit. At a $1 trillion target, OpenAI's valuation would imply a roughly 77x multiple on its projected 2025 revenue.