Large investors lining up for Anthropic’s initial public offering are sceptical that it can achieve a $1.5tn valuation, the Wall Street Journal reported, after figures of about $2tn circulated in recent months. They gave that guidance to Anthropic and its advisers over several days, according to people familiar with the matter. Anthropic had not set a valuation target or decided how many shares to sell.
Why investors pushed back
The reasons reported were the market rather than the company: the technology sell-off, worries about overexposure to AI, political opposition to new data centres after the midterms, and doubts about when hyperscalers such as Amazon and Meta will profit from their AI spending. At the time, the listing was targeted for the week before Thanksgiving.
What happened next
On 10 November Anthropic set a price range of $70–78 a share. At the top of the range it would raise about $64.4bn and be valued at about $1.4tn, CNBC reported, with pricing expected on 18 November and trading on 19 November. See our report on the draft prospectus.
What it means for founders and investors
The first public price for a frontier lab sets the comparison for every late-stage AI round. A range below the figures discussed in the autumn suggests public investors will pay for growth, but not at any price. Funds holding AI positions marked against private rounds should expect to revisit those marks once the shares trade.
Corrected on 12 November 2026: an earlier version of this article included figures and details that are not in the reporting it cited. They have been removed.
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