Anthropic moves toward IPO amid large losses and AI safety concerns

Anthropic filed a prospectus on Monday that moves the AI startup closer to a Nasdaq initial public offering, expected before Thanksgiving. The filing shows revenue for the three months ended June 30 grew 1,368% from a year earlier, while the net loss for the first half of 2026 widened to $80.7 billion, driven largely by a non-operating bond conversion item. Operating loss narrowed to $693 million and adjusted operating income turned positive at $1.62 billion, compared with a loss of $1.85 billion a year earlier.

"There is still enormous excitement about AI's potential to transform businesses, turbocharge productivity and reshape entire industries, but investors are becoming more discerning," said Susannah Streeter, chief investment strategist at Wealth Club.

The prospectus warns of risks linked to powerful AI systems, including potential misuse, security threats and outputs that could be perceived as coercive or deceptive. Anthropic's chief executive, Dario Amodei, has called for a slowdown in AI development.

Investors are valuing the company at about $1.5 trillion, down from roughly $2 trillion a week earlier, after the financial details were disclosed. Analysts note that the IPO will serve as a benchmark for valuing AI labs and could influence future listings.

"Anthropic's IPO will establish a benchmark for valuing leading AI labs, influencing both upcoming listings and confidence in the companies funding the AI infrastructure build-out," said Lukas Muehlbauer, IPOX research associate.

More than half of Fortune 500 firms and over 30% of Global 2000 companies are listed as customers generating at least $100,000 each in revenue for the year ended September 30. The company relies on a limited set of cloud providers and hardware suppliers, which it says creates dependencies and potential vulnerabilities.

Anthropic, founded in 2021 by former OpenAI researchers, will trade under the ticker "ANT" after the offering. Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are leading the underwriting team, with several other banks participating.