Anthropic IPO reportedly six times oversubscribed ahead of $64.4 billion pricing

Key points

• Anthropic's IPO is reportedly about six times oversubscribed, with up to $64.4 billion sought in the offering.
• The top of the 825 million share range would raise $64.35 billion and value the company at up to $1.405 trillion.
• Goldman Sachs analysts reportedly forecast cash burn above $65 billion next year, a key risk for investors weighing the stock.

Demand for Anthropic's initial public offering stands at roughly six times the shares on offer, according to Bloomberg. The Claude developer is seeking as much as $64.4 billion in the IPO, plus $26 billion in a private placement, its filings show.

Taken together, the deal would be bigger than SpaceX's IPO and the largest listing of all time. The company plans to offer 825 million shares priced between $70 and $78 each. At the top of that range, proceeds would reach $64.35 billion, and the valuation could hit $1.405 trillion, measured on a fully diluted basis.

The company plans to price its shares on Nov. 18 and begin trading the following day, with the listing on Nasdaq expected that Thursday. Its prospectus shows the business produced cash during the first nine months of this year, a rare feat in the costly business of AI model development. It has barely spent the $141 billion it raised privately.

The spending outlook is the main concern. Goldman Sachs, which is leading the offering, has privately told investors it expects Anthropic to burn through more than $65 billion next year and another $41 billion in 2028, The New York Times reported, citing two people familiar with those discussions. The prospectus also anticipates about $40 billion of expenses in the coming years tied to stock grants already given to employees that have not yet hit the company's accounts.

Institutional investors based in mainland China and Hong Kong have been excluded from placing orders, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The move highlights how sensitive AI is for both Washington and Beijing, which both regard the sector as strategic.

In a marketing video for the IPO, CEO Dario Amodei framed the company's ambitions broadly. "If we do this right, we can create an age of miracles," he said. Chief Financial Officer Krishna Rao said in the same video that the company is "in aggressive investment mode," without discussing specific spending forecasts.

Jim Cramer raised three open questions. He asked whether recent Claude price cuts will hurt revenue, though he said growth remained strong in October despite the reductions. He also questioned whether Claude Code, the coding agent that has driven much of the growth, can sustain the pace needed to cover the company's future computing commitments. Finally, he asked whether the company's focus on AI safety could eventually limit how fast it releases advanced models. Cramer said he is still evaluating the deal, adding, "For now, I'll just tell you that I'm wary of doing so."

Anthropic has built its reputation on a pledge to develop AI responsibly, and it has introduced products such as Claude Cowork to compete with Microsoft Office. Its shares have not yet traded, so there is no market price to report.

What's next: Anthropic is scheduled to price its shares on Nov. 18, with trading set to begin the following day.

Sources: Bloomberg, CNBC, The New York Times