Anthropic retracts IPO pricing details sent to bankers

Anthropic sent bankers a copy of its initial public offering filing late on Monday, November 9, and then took back the pricing details, according to emails seen by Reuters Thomson Reuters Corporation ↘ 3.79%. That leaves the terms of one of the most closely watched stock market debuts unsettled. The first copy showed the AI company planning to sell about 867 million shares at $70 to $80 each. In a follow-up email, Anthropic said the pricing details were inaccurate and that it would update the filing later, Reuters reported.rmb.reuters.com

Anthropic declined to comment, according to Reuters. The final price, share count and size of the raise are still open.marketscreener.com

What the withdrawn figures showed

Shortly before the retraction, Reuters published an exclusive saying Anthropic was aiming to raise as much as $69.3 billion, which could rank among the largest IPOs on record. Bloomberg Law said the document sent to bankers only "appeared to show" that target, and that the company later called those details inaccurate.news.bloomberglaw.com+1

Follow-up coverage of the same filing copy said Google Alphabet Inc. ↗ 0.73%, Nvidia ↘ 4.27%, AMD Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. ↗ 13.26%, Broadcom ↗ 8.78%, Micron ↗ 6.25%, Microsoft ↗ 2.75% and TSMC Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited ↗ 3.51% would put a combined $26 billion into a private placement at the IPO price, investingLive reported. Anthropic has not confirmed that arrangement. The report also said the implied valuation was not disclosed, because the total number of shares outstanding after the offering was not reported.investinglive.com

A tense market for AI listings

The confusion comes as the company prepares to list while markets absorb the fallout from the US midterm elections, Bloomberg Law noted. According to Bloomberg, potential investors have discussed valuations of $1.1 trillion to $1.3 trillion after the elections forced a rethink of AI valuations. The Wall Street Journal News Corp ↗ 1.28% reported that some major investors had pushed Anthropic to accept less than the roughly $1.5 trillion previously expected, investingLive said, after a selloff that erased about $2.5 trillion from the Nasdaq Composite.bloomberg.com+2

What comes next

Citing the Journal, investingLive reported that Anthropic is aiming to start trading on the Nasdaq ↗ 1.29% under the ticker "ANT" as soon as November 19 or 20. Goldman Sachs ↗ 4.67% and Morgan Stanley ↗ 3.12% are advising on the deal. Until Anthropic files updated terms, the $70 to $80 range and the $69.3 billion figure come from a document the company itself has called inaccurate, Investing.com noted. The outlet added that the episode adds uncertainty to what could be one of the largest listings by an AI company.investing.com+1