Anthropic's IPO Draws About Six Times More Orders Than Shares on Offer

The Claude developer and some of its existing shareholders are looking to raise up to $64.4 billion by selling 825 million shares at between $70 and $78 each. At the top of that range the listing would value Anthropic at up to $1.4 trillion, which Reuters described as slightly below what some investors had expected. Counting a concurrent private placement, the company and its co-founders could raise as much as $90.4 billion at the top of the range.

The level of demand matters because the deal is widely treated as a test of how much public-market investors will pay for a leading AI developer, and it is arriving during a difficult week for AI stocks. Nvidia, the industry's main chip supplier, lost its chief executive on Thursday after a scandal that has wiped hundreds of billions of dollars off its market value. Heavy oversubscription gives Anthropic and its bankers room to price at or above the top of the range, though no decision on pricing has been reported.

Bankers have told prospective investors that Anthropic will prioritise its existing backers when it hands out shares, according to the reports. That means some new buyers could be allocated less stock than they expected, which may in turn add to demand once trading opens.

The people familiar with the matter cautioned that details, including the level of demand, could still change. Anthropic could not immediately be reached for comment, Reuters said.

Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are leading the offering, with 20 other banks taking part, according to earlier reporting on the deal. The company plans to list on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker "ANT".

The deal has also drawn heavy interest from individual investors. Vanda Research estimated this week that retail buying on the first day could reach a record $250 million. Analysts expect Anthropic to follow SpaceX, which listed in June, in winning fast entry to major stock indexes, a route that could force index-tracking funds to buy billions of dollars of its shares within weeks of listing.

Shares are expected to begin trading on November 19.