Investors Question Anthropic's IPO Timing and $1.5 Trillion Valuation After Tech Sell-Off

The two exclusive reports landed a day after the sharpest technology sell-off in a year, and they point to a widening gap between the price Anthropic's backers had hoped for and what public-market buyers now say they will pay. For months, investors had discussed a valuation of roughly $2 trillion. A delay or a lower price would also be read across the industry as a measure of how much appetite public markets still have for frontier AI developers, with OpenAI's own potential listing in view for next year.

According to Reuters, the roadshow had been expected to start in the week of November 9, with pricing the following week. Prospective investors now doubt that timetable can hold, and some regard the $1.5 trillion figure discussed in recent weeks as the high end of their expectations. Reuters said Anthropic may have to offer a larger discount to secure orders, partly because buyers know the company needs to raise capital to fund its losses and the large commitments it has made to partners building out its computing capacity. New York City's comptroller has also urged Anthropic to pause the offering until concerns about AI risks and governance are addressed, Reuters said. Anthropic declined to comment to the news agency.

The Journal had reported earlier this week that investors preparing to take part in the deal were pushing for a valuation of $1.5 trillion to $1.6 trillion. They cited choppy markets, their existing exposure to AI bets, political backlash against data centres and uncertainty about how soon hyperscalers such as Amazon and Meta Platforms can show profits from AI. Its latest report says even the low end of that range is now in doubt among major investors.

The Market Backdrop

The Nasdaq Composite fell 5.5% on Thursday, its worst day since April 2025, as investors sold chipmakers, AI cloud providers and power suppliers after Democratic gains in the US midterm elections and dozens of successful local ballot measures against data centres. Nvidia closed down about 9%.

The sell-off compounds concerns that surfaced in October. Reuters reported then that some attendees at Anthropic's investor day had discussed a valuation of about $1.5 trillion, and that some were disappointed by slowing growth. Anthropic told prospective investors that third-quarter revenue rose 45% from the previous quarter to $16.8 billion and that it was profitable on an adjusted basis in the period, according to that report. Revenue had more than doubled from the first quarter to $11.6 billion in the second.

The company's prospectus shows the scale of the bet buyers are being asked to fund. Anthropic's 2025 revenue was nearly $4.6 billion, and the filing reported a 2025 loss of $42 billion, Reuters said, while the company has committed hundreds of billions of dollars to cloud services, chips and data centres over the coming decade.

Some public-market investors already hold the stock. Mutual funds own more than $15 billion of Anthropic shares, according to a Bloomberg analysis published on Thursday, with Capital Group alone holding at least $9 billion.

The immediate question is whether Anthropic and its underwriters launch the roadshow in the week of November 9 as planned, or push the listing into December or later in the hope that markets steady.