OpenAI, the creator of the popular ChatGPT, is laying the groundwork for going public in the fourth quarter of 2026. The startup, valued at $500 billion (approximately 13 trillion Czech korunas), has begun informal talks with leading Wall Street banks and is rapidly expanding its finance team. These preparations signal a major shift for the company, which currently burns through billions of dollars annually to train the next generation of artificial intelligence models.
OpenAI is racing to be the first to go public
To ensure a smooth IPO process, OpenAI has brought several key executives with public-company experience onto its team. Ajmere Dale has joined as chief accounting officer, while Cynthia Gaylor, the former chief financial officer of DocuSign, will take over as head of corporate finance and oversee investor relations. These personnel changes are seen as a critical step in building the professional financial systems needed for a company that could be valued at up to $1 trillion (approximately 20.6 trillion Czech korunas).
OpenAI's leadership is reportedly concerned that Anthropic, a rival company founded by former OpenAI leaders, could beat it to the public markets. Anthropic has told its financial partners that it is open to going public by the end of 2026. Whichever company goes public first will likely capture the largest share of investor enthusiasm and capital. Anthropic's revenue is currently surging, primarily thanks to its coding agent Claude Code, which has already reached nearly $1 billion (20.6 billion Czech korunas) in annualized revenue.
Both companies are also competing with Elon Musk's SpaceX, which sources say is planning to go public as early as this summer at a valuation exceeding $1 trillion.
Massive funding ahead of the IPO
The path to the public markets first involves securing staggering amounts of private capital. OpenAI is currently seeking to raise more than $100 billion (2.1 trillion Czech korunas) in a massive funding round that could value the startup at $830 billion (17 trillion Czech korunas).
Amazon is reportedly considering an investment of up to $50 billion (1 trillion Czech korunas), with CEO Andy Jassy personally leading the talks. In addition, Nvidia is considering a $30 billion contribution (780 billion Czech korunas), and SoftBank is discussing adding another $30 billion to its recent holdings. These funds are crucial for OpenAI as it faces rising data center costs and its $10 billion contract with Cerebras (260 billion Czech korunas).
Lawsuits and profitability
Despite the enthusiasm, the path to an IPO is fraught with obstacles. OpenAI faces a trial beginning on April 27, 2026, in a case brought by co-founder Elon Musk, who is seeking up to $134 billion (3.5 trillion Czech korunas) in damages. Musk claims the company betrayed its nonprofit mission, a legal dispute that could complicate the IPO process if the court seeks to unwind OpenAI's current corporate structure.
Financial documents also reveal a stark contrast in their survival strategies. While Anthropic expects to break even by 2028, OpenAI projects that it could lose as much as $74 billion (1.9 trillion Czech korunas) in the same year as it invests every dollar in the race to achieve artificial general intelligence.
Challenges facing a fast-growing startup
Completing a successful IPO by the end of the year will likely be difficult for the creator of ChatGPT. The company recently made leadership changes and is facing fierce competition from Google for its flagship consumer product, prompting it to declare a weeks-long "code red" effort to improve ChatGPT's quality.
"Am I excited to be the CEO of a public company? 0%. Am I excited for OpenAI to be a public company? In some ways, yes, and in some ways I think it would be really annoying," CEO Sam Altman said on the Big Technology podcast in December. As OpenAI enters the public markets, he is expected to delegate some responsibilities to former Instacart CEO Fidji Simo, who leads OpenAI's product and business teams as CEO of applications.
Anthropic strengthens its own team
Anthropic is also holding talks with banks interested in helping it go public. The company has made a series of finance hires that could potentially help it enter the public markets. These include Andrew Zloto, who leads capital markets, and Blackstone investor Kevin Chang. Chang's hiring has not yet been publicly announced.
Both OpenAI and Anthropic lose billions of dollars each year as they work to build new AI models and power their existing products. The year 2026 is expected to be a record year for IPOs following the recent drought, and some on Wall Street speculate that 2026 could be the biggest year ever for public listings.
Sources: tipranks.com and wsj.com
