OpenAI Races to IPO as Tech Giants Line Up with One Hundred Billion Dollars

The Biggest Tech IPO in History?

OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, is laying the groundwork for what could become one of the largest initial public offerings in history. The artificial intelligence giant has begun informal discussions with Wall Street banks about going public in the fourth quarter of twenty twenty-six, while simultaneously pursuing a staggering one hundred billion dollars in new funding.

Tech Titans Open Their Wallets

The funding round has attracted an unprecedented lineup of corporate investors. Amazon is in talks to invest up to fifty billion dollars, with CEO Andy Jassy personally negotiating with OpenAI chief Sam Altman. Japanese conglomerate SoftBank is close to agreeing an additional thirty billion dollars, which would make it OpenAI's largest backer overall.

Nvidia, whose chips power the AI models behind ChatGPT, is discussing a thirty billion dollar investment, while longtime partner Microsoft is in talks for just under ten billion. If completed, this round could push OpenAI's valuation to approximately eight hundred and thirty billion dollars, making it the most valuable private company on the planet.

Building the Finance Machine

OpenAI is rapidly expanding its finance team ahead of the IPO. The company recently hired Ajmere Dale as chief accounting officer, who previously spent nearly a decade in the same role at Block. Cynthia Gaylor, former chief financial officer at DocuSign, joined as corporate business finance officer. CFO Sarah Friar described the organisation as building, shipping, and operating at immense scale.

The Anthropic Factor

Driving the urgency is the spectre of rival Anthropic beating OpenAI to public markets. The Claude chatbot maker has engaged law firm Wilson Sonsini to prepare for a potential twenty twenty-six IPO and recently brought on a former Airbnb executive who was instrumental in that company's listing. Anthropic is pursuing funding that could value it at three hundred and fifty billion dollars.

The Financial Reality

Despite the eye-watering valuations, OpenAI faces substantial financial pressures. Internal documents suggest the company will lose approximately fourteen billion dollars in twenty twenty-six, roughly triple its estimated losses from the previous year. The company does not expect to turn a profit until twenty twenty-nine, while Anthropic targets cash flow positive by twenty twenty-eight.