Anthropic Presses Ahead With IPO Roadshow Next Week Despite Tech Sell-Off

The Information reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter, that the roadshow would proceed next week. The Financial Times reported that the company intends to list before the US Thanksgiving holiday and is still targeting a valuation of $1.5tn.

The timing means the first stock market test of a leading AI model developer will take place in a market that has turned against AI shares within days. The Nasdaq fell more than 5% on Thursday, its steepest drop in 19 months, as investors weighed whether Democrats' gains in the midterm elections and a wave of local votes against data centres would slow spending on AI infrastructure. Anthropic will list under the ticker ANT.

Investors who spoke to CNBC on condition of anonymity said the company had been looking toward a valuation of as much as $2tn until recently, and that even $1.5tn is now in doubt. One called that figure a "stretch" and said $1tn to $1.25tn was a more likely target, though that could shift with market conditions. Anthropic was privately valued at $965bn as of May. The company declined to comment to CNBC.

Gil Luria, an analyst at D.A. Davidson, told CNBC that investors would expect the shares to be priced at least at the low end of earlier expectations. "The market really needs this IPO to go well and the bankers on the deal surely understand that," he said.

The company's public registration statement, filed on October 26, shows how quickly the business has grown and how much it is spending. Revenue for the first half of 2026 was $16.29bn, up from $1.16bn a year earlier, according to the filing as summarised by CNBC. The net loss for the period was $80.7bn, of which about $72bn came from accounting charges tied to convertible notes. Revenue for all of 2025 was $4.59bn.

Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are leading the offering, with JPMorgan, Citigroup, Barclays and Wells Fargo among the other banks. A founder entity whose members include Dario and Daniela Amodei holds 50.1% of the voting power. Amazon holds $6.2bn of convertible notes, with its stake capped at 12%, and Google has an option to buy up to $10bn of a separate class of stock at the IPO price.

The filing also sets staggered lock-ups that would let insiders sell some shares on the first day of trading, with further expirations 27, 48, 62 and 76 days after the listing, which could add supply to the market in the weeks after the debut.

Anthropic has not yet published a price range or the number of shares it will sell. Those figures, and the reception they get from fund managers during next week's meetings, will show how far the sell-off has cut into the price investors are willing to pay for the company.