OpenAI is leaning toward delaying its initial public offering until 2027, according to reporting by the New York Times and Bloomberg, as CEO Sam Altman refuses any valuation below $1 trillion and advisers warn of turbulence in public tech markets.
What happened
The ChatGPT maker had been on a fast track toward a public listing after confidentially filing a draft S-1 registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on June 8, 2026, with Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and JPMorgan as lead underwriters. A fall 2026 debut had been the working target.
Those plans shifted on June 25–26 when reports emerged that company advisers presented OpenAI’s leadership with two options: wait until 2027 to aim for a $1 trillion valuation, or accept a lower price and list sooner. According to Bloomberg, Altman called any cut to the trillion-dollar figure a “non-starter.”
Timing and competition
The delay could hand rival Anthropic an unexpected first-mover advantage in public markets. Bloomberg reported that Anthropic is considering an IPO as soon as October 2026. OpenAI chief financial officer Sarah Friar has told associates the company is eyeing a 2027 listing window, according to Reuters.
Market conditions were cited as a factor. Advisers pointed to recent volatility among chip stocks — including Oracle’s worst trading week since 2001 — and to shaky post-IPO performance of SpaceX shares as reasons for caution.
Financial context
OpenAI was last valued at approximately $852 billion in a private funding round earlier this year. Annual revenue has grown roughly 12 times in two years to an estimated $24 billion annualized, but the company remains unprofitable, with analysts projecting losses of around $14 billion in 2026.
The news hit SoftBank Group hard. The Japanese conglomerate — which stands to hold about $65 billion in OpenAI equity by October — saw its shares fall as much as 13 percent in Tokyo trading, their sharpest single-session drop since August 2024.