Anthropic Targets Nasdaq Debut Next Week Under Ticker ANT Despite AI Sell-Off

The next step is a regulatory filing, expected early this week, that should set out the price range, the number of shares Anthropic intends to sell and possibly the names of large investors who have agreed to buy at the offering price, according to the Journal. Executives have meetings with key investors lined up this week. Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are the lead bookrunners.

The main open question is valuation. Investors had expected Anthropic to target about $1.5 trillion as recently as last week, but some major investors are now pushing for a lower figure, the Journal reported. The roughly $2 trillion that had been discussed months ago looks increasingly hard to reach. The Financial Times reported last week, citing AI investors, that Anthropic planned to raise $80 billion to $100 billion at a valuation of $1.25 trillion to $1.75 trillion, that some investors expected about $1.3 trillion, and that the company hoped to raise enough to avoid another equity sale. The FT also said investors expected the company to stay on track to list even at a lower valuation.

The timing puts the offering in a nervous market. Nasdaq-listed companies lost a combined $2.5 trillion in market value on Thursday, as investors reacted to US midterm election results that brought AI sceptics into office and to concerns about the cost of AI infrastructure and the returns on it. Sentiment has partly recovered since then. On Monday the Nasdaq Composite rose 2.74%, led by chipmakers such as AMD and Broadcom, while Nvidia fell 5% as its board investigates its chief executive's relationship with a businesswoman alleged to be a Chinese spy.

Two recent deals frame expectations. OpenAI recently raised less than half of its initial target in a funding round at a valuation of about $1.25 trillion, while SpaceX's initial public offering in June raised around $75 billion at a valuation of nearly $1.8 trillion, according to the Journal's account.

Anthropic faces trade-offs either way. Setting the price too high could weaken demand and lead to a fall in the shares after the debut, while setting it too low would invite criticism that the company left money on the table. The company could still delay if conditions worsen, but dropping the timetable at this stage could raise doubts about investor appetite for large AI listings, the Journal reported.

Anthropic has not publicly confirmed the listing date. The price range filing, expected in the coming days, will be the first official indication of the valuation the company and its banks think the market will accept.