Anthropic trims IPO valuation to $1.4 trillion amid AI market doubts

Anthropic is filing for a stock market flotation that would value the Claude chatbot developer at up to $1.4 tn (£1.1 tn) on a fully diluted basis, down from an earlier $2 tn target, according to a US regulatory filing linked in a Guardian report. The company plans to raise up to $64.4 bn by selling 825 m shares priced between $70 and $78, with a separate $26 bn private placement involving cornerstone investors Alphabet and Nvidia, and a potential $9.7 bn greenshoe if demand is strong.

Investor anxiety intensified after the US midterm elections, which Forrester principal analyst Brian Hopkins said gave the market “an excuse to correct itself” on AI valuations. The election outcome heightened concerns about the financial sustainability of AI infrastructure spending, prompting the valuation downgrade.

CEO Dario Amodei and six co-founders will each sell about $260 m of shares, and at the top of the price range their stakes could be worth more than $18 bn each. Anthropic’s prospectus shows annual revenue of $81 bn as of 31 October and compute purchase commitments exceeding $70 bn over the next year, underscoring the scale of its capital needs.

Our read: The revised valuation signals that Wall Street is re-pricing AI hype against tangible revenue and compute cost trajectories, forcing investors to scrutinise long-term cash-flow prospects before committing to mega-size offerings.