Anthropic Pushes Thanksgiving-Eve IPO With Up to $100 Billion Raise
Anthropic is still moving toward a pre-Thanksgiving IPO, targeting an $80-100 billion raise at a $1.25-1.75 trillion valuation, while bracing for pricing below earlier optimistic expectations. A tech selloff, rising borrowing costs and worries over AI capex have pulled valuation expectations well below the doubling investors anticipated a month ago, forcing CEO Dario Amodei to accept a haircut.
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IT之家 November 8 news, according to a report by the Financial Times yesterday, despite the recent severe volatility in U.S. tech stocks, Anthropic is still advancing its IPO plan. This U.S.-based artificial intelligence startup is prepared to accept a valuation lower than optimistic expectations.
According to multiple Anthropic investors, the U.S. company still plans to hold its IPO (initial public offering) before Thanksgiving, expecting to raise $80 billion-$100 billion (IT之家 note: approximately RMB 535.266 billion-669.083 billion at current exchange rates), with a target valuation of $1.25 trillion-$1.75 trillion (approximately RMB 8.36 trillion-11.71 trillion at current exchange rates).
The figures in the above rumors are higher than Anthropic's current valuation of $965 billion (approximately RMB 6.46 trillion at current exchange rates), but there is a considerable gap compared with the doubled level investors expected a month ago.
An investor holding a large number of Anthropic shares said: "I think they will adopt a very conservative pricing strategy, for example setting the valuation at $1.5 trillion (approximately RMB 10.04 trillion at current exchange rates), and then gradually raise it." Other people involved in the transaction believe the valuation could be even lower, at about $1.3 trillion (approximately RMB 8.7 trillion at current exchange rates).
This downward revision of expectations reflects the tech industry's reassessment of market trends. Investors are increasingly worried about rising borrowing costs and the expanding spending plans of AI companies. A large number of AI concept stocks have already begun to see sell-offs, and lenders are also starting to avoid high-risk projects.
In this week's U.S. midterm elections, the Democratic Party won an overwhelming victory, partly because its candidates promised to block data center construction. This outcome further accelerated the market sell-off.
More than six investors revealed that Anthropic still intends to go public, and CEO Dario Amodei has had to accept a valuation cut for this purpose.
U.S. stocks fluctuated sharply on Thursday, wiping out $3.2 trillion (approximately RMB 21.41 trillion at current exchange rates) in market value in a single day. The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 index plunged 6.4%, amid market concerns that the AI infrastructure investment boom may slow down.
An analyst at market research firm Vital Knowledge said: "The sell-off in AI stocks makes it more difficult for Anthropic to go public, meaning less capital is available for capital expenditure, which in turn triggers more selling."
At the same time, OpenAI is also finding it difficult to complete its own private financing. The company has lowered the valuation it is seeking from $1.4 trillion (approximately RMB 9.37 trillion at current exchange rates) to $1.25 trillion (approximately RMB 8.36 trillion at current exchange rates), while reducing the financing size from $30 billion (approximately RMB 200.725 billion at current exchange rates) to $20 billion (approximately RMB 133.817 billion at current exchange rates).
Anthropic's supporters hope that this IPO can attract some passive sellers, namely index funds and large asset management companies. These institutions do not currently hold Anthropic shares, but shortly after the company goes public, they will effectively have to buy the relevant shares.
In addition, the rumor that Anthropic is aiming for the "largest IPO in history" also faces uncertainties. According to multiple people familiar with Amodei's thinking, he is not very interested in surpassing Musk's SpaceX.
One investor said: "They do not care whether the valuation can exceed SpaceX, nor do they pursue maximizing the IPO fundraising size." Anthropic's seven co-founders have pledged to donate 80% of their personally held company equity to charity.