Anthropic to start IPO roadshow next week despite selloff

Anthropic plans to start marketing its initial public offering to investors next week and still aims to list before Thanksgiving, even though a sharp drop in tech stocks has pushed down expectations for its valuation. The Financial Times, citing several investors in the company, reported that the Claude maker will go ahead and is ready to accept a lower valuation than it had hoped for. It plans to raise $80 billion to $100 billion at a valuation of $1.25 trillion to $1.75 trillion, according to the FT as relayed by Seeking Alpha. The Information separately reported that the roadshow will begin next week. Anthropic declined to comment.ft.com+2

A lower bar

That range would still be well above the $965 billion private valuation Anthropic reached in May. But it falls short of the roughly $2 trillion investors were discussing as recently as a month ago. "My view is they will price it very conservatively, call it $1.5tn, and go up from there," one large investor told the FT. Others expect a figure closer to $1.3 trillion. Investors close to the company said CEO Dario Amodei has shown little interest in topping SpaceX's record June listing. They said Anthropic wants to raise enough now that it won't need to sell equity again. JPMorgan Chase ↘ 0.84% is expected to hold an information session for prospective investors on Friday, November 13.seekingalpha.com

Other outlets put the likely valuation lower still. Bloomberg reported that potential buyers are discussing $1.2 trillion to $1.3 trillion. According to Techxplore, The Wall Street Journal News Corp ↘ 0.03% reported that one major investor thought the valuation could end up closer to $1 trillion.bloomberg.com+1

Market turmoil

The selloff began after investors reacted to huge AI spending plans from Amazon Amazon.com, Inc. ↘ 0.35% and Google Alphabet Inc. ↗ 0.78% and to a Democratic landslide in the midterm elections, The Information reported. On Thursday, November 5, the Nasdaq 100 fell 6.4%, erasing a record $2.3 trillion in market value in a single day. Tech stocks recovered some ground on Friday. Earlier, Reuters had reported that some prospective investors doubted the roadshow could start the week of November 9.theinformation.com+2

What comes next

Anthropic plans to list on the Nasdaq ↗ 0.27% under the ticker ANT. Its amended prospectus, filed November 2, still leaves the price range and share count blank. Revenue reached about $17 billion in the third quarter, but growth from the previous quarter slowed to 47%. The roadshow gives Anthropic a chance to explain that slowdown to investors.cnbc.com+2

"Anthropic can still come to market and will come to market [but] will likely be forced to do so at a lower valuation," JonesTrading strategist Mike O'Rourke told CNN.edition.cnn.com