Inside OpenAI and Anthropic Finances Before IPOs

Source: wsj.com

TL;DR

The story at a glance

The Wall Street Journal reviewed confidential financial documents from OpenAI and Anthropic, shared ahead of earlier funding rounds, highlighting their rapid revenue growth alongside massive compute costs. OpenAI and Anthropic lead the AI race, with recent valuations at $852 billion and around $380 billion respectively, and both are preparing for potential IPOs by late 2026.[[3]](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-04-01/openai-demand-sinks-on-secondary-market-as-anthropic-runs-hot) This report comes now as bankers push for listings amid investor interest in their scale, though CFO concerns at OpenAI question 2026 readiness.[[4]](https://www.wheresyoured.at/openai-cfo-news)

Key points

Details and context

The documents reveal AI's compute demands as an Achilles' heel: training new models requires vast resources, outpacing revenue growth for now. OpenAI relies heavily on consumer subscriptions, while Anthropic draws more from enterprise and cloud partners like Amazon, which counts those sales as revenue.[[5]](https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/openai-anthropic-ipo-finances-04b3cfb9?gaa_at=eafs&gaa_n=AWEtsqegco5IH0sL9S1tUd59Ih9HOnRYczr5oFUh5LOIfg9zwcaLJWSrEjhP&gaa_sig=FBjm0ktz4z10dQFnixMt34JPMquZ7b07toaON3m1zA4XCw_x7QoHrGzZ_FnLpmD6VXu0Ed6jhjv2YIcGHs7pOA%3D%3D&gaa_ts=69d54d6d)

Both use dual profitability metrics—one excluding training costs—to show operational strength atop models, but full inclusion shows deep losses. This mirrors broader AI economics, where chip shortages and data centers drive expenses; OpenAI's recent $122 billion raise at $852 billion valuation funds this push.[[9]](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-03-31/openai-valued-at-852-billion-after-completing-122-billion-round)

Anthropic appears leaner, projecting breakeven sooner, possibly by 2028 per prior reports. Secondary markets show hotter demand for Anthropic shares over OpenAI's amid valuation gaps.[[3]](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-04-01/openai-demand-sinks-on-secondary-market-as-anthropic-runs-hot)

Key quotes

None reliably sourced from the article itself.

Why it matters

Huge projected losses test whether public markets tolerate AI's capital intensity amid trillion-dollar valuations. Investors and consumers face bets on revenue catching compute costs, affecting stock viability post-IPO for everyday users and businesses relying on these models. Watch IPO timelines, Q2 2026 filings, and 2028 compute/revenue updates, as CFO doubts and rival growth could delay listings or shift momentum to Anthropic.