Albawaba - In what is shaping up to be one of the biggest company debuts; Sam Altman’s OpenAI has filed for an initial public offering (IPO) - marking a potential gigantic payday for early investors.
OpenAI’s decision follows rival Anthropic's announcement to go public and SpaceX’s scheduled debut into the market on Friday; these three listings are suspected to be worth in the billions of dollars once debuting into the market, making early investors rich and testing the market’s appetite for AI firms.
However, due to the confidential filing, how many shares and the stock price are unknown - as well as the date with the company stating: “It may be a while because there are things we want to do that are likely easier as a private company,” in a post on its newsroom page. But noted that the filing “gives us the option to go public sooner if that ends up being best.”
The publicization of the firm will give markets a strong insight into their finances as they invest billions in the AI industry; as recently as last week investors dumped high-tech stocks as they questioned whether the AI growth run-up had gone too far.
OpenAI is valued at $852 billion and it will have to prove to match that valuation to investors as the road to an IPO hasn’t been smooth; escalating competition from rivals, lawsuits alleging ChatGPT played a role in shootings and suicides, and general consumer backlash against AI; almost falling apart when OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was briefly ousted as CEO in 2023.
