Anthropic has added Citigroup to its IPO banker roster, joining Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, and JPMorgan Chase in leading roles on what is shaping up to be one of the largest listings on record. The Claude maker is considering filing for a public offering as soon as the end of August or September, with an October launch possible. Citigroup's inclusion signals intensifying competition among Wall Street firms for roles on the deal, with major banks seeking larger credit-facility commitments to strengthen their IPO underwriting positions.
Anthropic's revenue run rate hit $65 billion by late July, and the company raised $65 billion at a $965 billion valuation in May, already surpassing OpenAI's $852 billion mark. The company has confidentially filed an S-1 with the SEC and is exploring super-voting shares that would preserve founder Dario Amodei's control. A successful listing before year-end would beat OpenAI to public markets and potentially set a record for IPO proceeds, building momentum from SpaceX's blockbuster June debut.
For practitioners, Anthropic's IPO timing matters for AI capex and vendor lock-in decisions: a public Anthropic with disclosed financials will reshape how enterprises evaluate spending on AI infrastructure and Claude's long-term viability as a locked-in compute supplier.