Good morning. Anthropic set a proposed IPO valuation of up to roughly $1.4 trillion, below earlier reported expectations, but strong investor demand may already be pushing it higher.
In an amended SEC filing on Tuesday, the Claude maker said it plans to offer 825 million shares at between $70 and $78 apiece in its proposed initial public offering. At the top of that range, the shares would have a combined value of approximately $64.35 billion. The offering includes shares sold by existing shareholders, from which Anthropic will receive no proceeds.
Separately, Google, Nvidia, AMD, Broadcom, Micron, Microsoft and TSMC Partners, an affiliate of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, have agreed to purchase a combined $26 billion of Anthropic’s nonvoting Class N common stock through a private placement immediately following the IPO, according to the filing. That would bring the combined total to as much as $90.4 billion.
Just weeks ago, reports had put the company’s potential valuation at roughly $2 trillion. Now, Anthropic’s bankers are considering pricing shares above the filed range, which could lift the valuation to $1.5 trillion or more, the Financial Times reported.
Anthropic, which plans to list on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol ANT, launched its roadshow on Tuesday, and the deal is expected to price on Nov. 18.
CFO Krishna Rao, who joined Anthropic in 2024, is not selling any shares in the IPO. According to the filing, he beneficially owned about 9.5 million Class A shares as of Sept. 30, nearly all of it in stock options. At the top of the proposed range, that stake would have a gross value of roughly $740.8 million, before the cost of exercising the options and taxes.
Dan Ives, partner and senior managing director at Yorkville Ives & Co., wrote in a Tuesday note that the deal sets up a debate over “margin against growth,” with the stock likely to trade on whether Anthropic’s second-quarter operating profit or its third-quarter loss reflects its true run rate.
Ives also argued that a more conservative valuation could help Anthropic achieve a successful market debut. The $1.4 trillion figure includes stock options and other equity awards. Counting only shares outstanding, he noted, the top of the range values the company at about $1 trillion.
“Given the volatility and nervousness across the tech trade over the past week, we believe pricing at roughly $1 trillion, with the option to move toward $1.2 trillion if the book allows, is the right move,” Ives wrote. “A deal of this size gets one shot at its debut, and making it digestible for the market matters more than the last turn of valuation.”
Sheryl Estrada
Sheryl.Estrada@fortune.com
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
