Anthropic files for blockbuster IPO

Anthropic filed on Monday for a Nasdaq IPO under the ticker ANT, setting up a test of investor appetite for AI as rivals OpenAI and Meta each seek tens of bns of USD of their own. Gulf investors that have already backed the maker of Claude will both get the chance to accumulate new shares and finally understand how public-market investors value their stock.

How much do Gulf shareholders really own? It’s anyone’s guess. The so-called S-1 filing runs more than 350 pages and some 240k words, but the only mention of MENA or Gulf countries relates to where securities can be marketed.

What about Gulf investment plans, spending, clients … anything? Nothing. Bupkis. Not a word.

That means that while big MENA+ institutions have significant stakes, none break the 5% threshold necessary to force disclosure. Known shareholders range from sovereign institutions (Abu Dhabi’s MGX, the Qatar Investment Authority, vehicles linked to Mubadala) to Damac, HOF Capital (founded by Onsi Sawiris, Hisham Elhaddad, and Fady Yacoub), Alpha Dhabi, and a unit of IHC. (See table, below.)

Notably absent: Saudi Arabia. Anthropic pooh-poohed bringing on Arab investors until recently and drew a line through suggestions that Saudi funds would be allowed into its cap table. Saudi’s Al Moammar Information Systems, a tiny shareholder, exited in 2025.

How much is the IPO worth? The filing leaves blank the price and number of shares on offer. Existing investors expect a USD 1.5-1.75 tn valuation, below the USD 2 tn-plus discussed in August, the FT reports, confirming an earlier account by Reuters. Trading is expected between the 3 November US midterms and Thanksgiving on 26 November. Look for the order book to open up next week.

Anthropic and its competitors are setting out to raise big money at the same time as investors show signs they may be cooling on AI as an asset class. The Nasdaq 100 has dipped a bit more than 7% from its 6 October high, edging nearer to the 10% drop needed to call it a market correction. Other would-be issuers are avoiding competition with Anthropic for institutional money, Reuters reports. There may also be some selling pressure from investors shedding existing holdings so they can write tickets for the Anthropic IPO, a pattern commonly seen before hot listings.

Other AI giants are feeling pressure

OpenAI is racing Anthropic. UAE investors and Coatue Management are discussing a round of up to USD 30 bn at a USD 1.25 tn pre-money valuation, CNBC reports. That target is down from an initial USD 1.4 tn. MGX, which co-led OpenAI’s USD 122 bn March round, is discussing another investment and additional UAE computing capacity could feature in a deal.

Meta, meanwhile, unveiled plans on Monday to raise up to USD 95 bn through a series of rolling stock offerings, also to fund growth of its AI offerings.

AND- Microsoft will offer buyouts to as much as 25% of its global workforce as it looks to keep pace with spiraling AI costs. As many as 60k people could be eligible to take a severance package, Reuters writes.

By the numbers

Anthropic’s sales pitch has substance: First-half revenue rose 1,300% y-o-y to USD 16.3 bn, while second-quarter operating profit came in at USD 974 mn. Its first-half operating loss narrowed to USD 693 mn from USD 2.1 bn a year earlier; full-year 2025 operating losses were USD 8.1 bn.

Its USD 80.7 bn first-half net loss isn’t as bad as it seems: It included USD 72.4 bn of non-cash charges from revaluing convertible notes and other instruments on the back of Anthropic’s rising valuation — it’s not a pure burn of USD 80.7 bn in cash from selling subsidized tokens. Net losses were USD 42 bn in 2025 and USD 1.5 bn in 2023.

IN CONTEXT- Anthropic’s half-year loss exceeds Fannie Mae’s USD 72 bn loss in 2009 and approaches AIG’s USD 99.3 bn in 2008 and AOL Time Warner’s USD 98.7 bn in 2002.

A whopping dose of concentration risk — and tons of cash on the balance sheet: Anthropic’s five biggest customers generated about 25% of revenue in the first nine months, although none individually exceeded 10%. The company was sitting on cash and cash-equivalents of USD 112.4 bn at the end of June 2026.

And Anthropic would have you believe it’s at least as worried about corporate inertia as it is about its competitors at OpenAI, Google, Microsoft, and Meta, writing in the risks section of the S-1 that corporate inertia is an obstacle to the quick adoption of Claude, which requires retraining staff, redesigning processes, and changing internal policies. Those obstacles are more pronounced in the regulated industries it most covets, from finance and law to healthcare.

AI is gonna kill us all? We never imagined we’d read a prospectus in which the issuer warns that its product might “pose catastrophic or existential risks to humanity” and concentrate power in ways that “erode trust, harm society, and destabilize the geopolitical order.”

AI is gonna save us? The S-1 also says that Anthropic’s aim is to “open new frontiers of discovery, and bring forth an age of miracles.”

ADVISORS- Goldman Sachs has the senior lead role alongside Morgan Stanley.