Anthropic, the developer of artificial intelligence chatbot Claude, has filed for an initial public offering (IPO) in the United States, outlining a share structure that would allow its seven founders to retain 50.1 percent of voting power while Amazon, Google and Nvidia stand among the major investors exposed to its potential public-market debut.
The San Francisco-based company submitted its registration statement to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Monday, October 26, moving closer to a potential stock market listing as early as November. The company plans to trade under the ticker symbol ANT, although it has yet to disclose the number of shares it intends to offer or its target valuation.
According to Forbes, Anthropic is considering a valuation of between $1.5 trillion and $1.75 trillion, with the offering potentially raising $100 billion or more. The Wall Street Journal reported that the listing could take place during the week of November 16, ahead of the US Thanksgiving holiday.
Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are leading the proposed offering, with 20 other banks also named in the filing, highlighting the scale of the transaction being prepared.
The IPO could become one of the largest public listings in history, putting the financial performance, corporate governance and long-term commercial prospects of one of the world’s leading AI developers under greater scrutiny.
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Anthropic’s proposed share structure gives its seven founders 50.1 percent of total voting power through Class F shares, allowing them to retain significant influence over corporate decisions after the company goes public.
The filing also outlines Class T shares for its Long-Term Benefit Trust, which would have the authority to appoint a majority of the board of directors. The arrangement creates a governance structure in which the founders retain substantial voting power while the trust exercises significant influence over board composition.
The structure is particularly important for public-market investors because ownership of shares would not necessarily translate into equivalent voting influence over the company’s direction.
Anthropic also plans to establish a Public Benefit Fund, subject to shareholder approval, allocating at least five percent of its shares to the fund after listing. The fund is intended to support non-profit organisations and direct distributions to specific populations, excluding political donations and lobbying activities.
The proposed allocation adds a public-benefit component to the company’s listing plans, although the fund’s eventual operations would depend on the terms approved by shareholders.
Big Tech investors face a landmark market test
Amazon, Google and Nvidia are among Anthropic’s major investors, having committed billions of dollars to support its development. A public listing could give investors a new reference point for assessing the value of their exposure to the AI company, although the financial benefits would depend on their individual holdings, investment terms and any restrictions attached to their shares.
The IPO also comes as technology companies compete to secure a position in the rapidly expanding market for advanced AI models, which requires substantial investment in computing capacity, cloud infrastructure and data centres.
Anthropic reported revenue of approximately $16.3 billion in the first half of 2026, compared with $1.2 billion in the same period a year earlier. The company also informed investors that third-quarter revenue rose to $16.8 billion, an increase of nearly 50 percent from the previous quarter.
However, the company’s registration filing reported a net loss of about $81 billion for the first half of the year. More than $72 billion of that amount was attributed to charges associated with changes in the valuation of convertible notes, underscoring the importance of understanding the accounting treatment behind the headline loss.
Anthropic spent nearly $9 billion on computing capacity and cloud infrastructure during the first half of 2026, up from $2.3 billion a year earlier. The spending reflects the substantial resources required to develop, train and operate advanced AI systems as demand for the technology grows.
The combination of rapid revenue growth, rising infrastructure expenditure and significant valuation-related charges is likely to be central to investor assessments of the company’s financial position and prospects.
For Amazon, Google and Nvidia, Anthropic’s public-market debut could provide greater visibility into the valuation of a major AI business in which they have invested. However, the listing would also expose the company to closer scrutiny of its spending, governance arrangements and ability to translate demand for AI services into sustainable financial returns.
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AI safety concerns enter public-market spotlight
Founded in 2021 by former OpenAI employees and researchers, including chief executive officer Dario Amodei, Anthropic develops Claude, a family of AI models competing with products such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini.
The company has positioned AI safety and responsible development as important elements of its identity. Its prospectus acknowledges that its technology could pose catastrophic or existential risks to humanity, alongside its potential to help address major global challenges.
A public listing would place those commitments alongside the expectations of investors seeking growth and financial returns. Shareholders would have to assess not only the company’s competitive position and infrastructure requirements but also the potential commercial, regulatory and reputational consequences of developing increasingly capable AI systems.
Anthropic’s proposed IPO therefore represents more than a fundraising exercise. It could establish a significant public-market benchmark for an AI developer whose growth depends on expensive computing infrastructure, whose governance structure preserves substantial founder influence and whose technology carries both considerable commercial promise and potentially serious risks.
The final offering size, valuation and listing date remain subject to the company’s subsequent disclosures and the IPO process.
Royal Ibeh is a senior journalist with years of experience reporting on Nigeria’s technology and health sectors. She currently covers the Technology and Health beats for BusinessDay newspaper, where she writes in-depth stories on digital innovation, telecom infrastructure, healthcare systems, and public health policies.
