ChatGPT owner OpenAI may delay IPO until 2027 on tech stock volatility, NYT reports
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
OpenAI has filed confidentially for an IPO with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
PHOTO: REUTERS
NEW YORK - OpenAI is leaning towards holding off on an initial public offering until 2027, the New York Times reported, citing three people involved in the company’s deliberations.
Bankers advising the ChatGPT maker on its IPO plans cautioned that recent volatility in tech stocks, as well as in SpaceX’s shares following its record IPO, could dampen enthusiasm from retail investors for OpenAI’s offering, the newspaper reported.
Shares of SoftBank Group, a major investor in OpenAI, fell as much as 12 per cent on June 26 after the report. Expectations of a big financial windfall from OpenAI’s public debut had buoyed SoftBank shares to record highs, helping the company’s market capitalisation soar above Toyota Motor in May.
Sam Altman, the artificial intelligence company’s chief executive, pushed advisers including bankers and lawyers to target a valuation of US$1 trillion (S$1.3 trillion), NYT said.
A representative for OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The company filed confidentially for an IPO with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, according to a statement on June 9. “We have not decided on timing yet; it may be a while because there are things we want to do that are likely easier as a private company,” it said in the statement. “But it’s a complicated set of tradeoffs and this gives us the option to go public sooner if that ends up being best.”
OpenAI and rival Anthropic have been racing to make their Wall Street debuts as soon as 2026, in a bid to attract public market investors and support their heavy spending on chips and data centres for AI.
Anthropic, once viewed as an underdog relative to OpenAI, has seen revenue soar in 2026 thanks to the success of its AI software, including products that help streamline the process of writing and debugging code.
The Claude maker filed confidentially to go public shortly before OpenAI.
OpenAI raised US$122 billion in a funding round from investors earlier in 2026 to support its spending spree on AI infrastructure.
The financing valued the ChatGPT maker at US$852 billion, including the money raised. BLOOMBERG