OpenAI targets IPO next year, says being second to Anthropic 'is fine'

OpenAI is planning an initial public offering next year, according to people familiar with the matter.

Sarah Friar, OpenAI's chief financial officer, told employees at a company-wide all-hands meeting Wednesday that "OpenAI will be a public company next year," CNBC reported, citing multiple sources.

Friar acknowledged that Anthropic could go public first, potentially in September, but reassured staff. "That's OK. We run our own race," she said.

She described the IPO as "a milestone and just another financing event, not a finish line," adding that the company had already secured $122 billion in funding in March and currently has ample financial flexibility.

However, she said the timeline could be moved up if business growth accelerates.

OpenAI faces a fresh challenge after Anthropic, the younger rival, overtook it in sales for the first time in the second quarter — a development that has raised concerns about OpenAI's growth trajectory.

Unlike Anthropic, which posted its first-ever quarterly adjusted operating profit since its founding, OpenAI saw its operating losses widen further.

Both companies filed confidential IPO applications with securities regulators in June, formally beginning the listing process.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has been weighing a delay to the IPO, however, in hopes of securing a valuation of more than $1 trillion at the time of listing.

The company was valued at $852 billion during its fundraising round in March.