Anthropic IPO to raise up to $64.4B, draft prospectus shows

Anthropic's initial public offering could raise as much as $64.4 billion, according to the latest draft prospectus, which Reuters Thomson Reuters Corporation ↘ 3.79% reviewed on Tuesday, November 10, as the Claude maker prepared to start marketing the deal. The company and some of its existing investors plan to sell shares at an indicative price of $70 to $78 each. Deal details are expected to be announced soon, and Anthropic did not immediately respond to a request for comment, Reuters reported.reuters.com

The new terms come hours after a confused start. Late on Monday, an Anthropic representative sent banks a filing that showed about 867 million shares priced at $70 to $80, which would have raised up to $69.3 billion. The representative then sent a second email saying the pricing details were inaccurate and that the filing would be updated, according to Reuters. In that withdrawn version, Anthropic itself was to sell about 843.3 million shares, and existing shareholders were to sell another 23.3 million, Reuters reported.reuters.com

Cornerstone investors

The revised draft also describes a separate $26 billion private placement with cornerstone investors, the Economic Times reported, citing the Reuters report. Those investors include Alphabet ↗ 0.73%, Nvidia ↘ 4.27% and Advanced Micro Devices ↗ 13.26%. Broadcom ↗ 8.78%, Micron Technology ↗ 6.25%, Microsoft ↗ 2.75% and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company ↗ 3.51% are also among the backers. Together, the IPO and the placement could raise up to $90.4 billion, according to the report.economictimes.com

Timeline and valuation

Anthropic was expected to formally launch its roadshow on Tuesday, with pricing the following week, Reuters said. The Wall Street Journal News Corp ↗ 1.28% reported that shares could begin trading as early as November 19 or 20, Yahoo Finance noted. The company plans to list on the Nasdaq Global Select Market ↗ 1.29%, Investing.com reported.finance.yahoo.com+2

Valuation expectations have come down. Potential investors were discussing a valuation of $1.1 trillion to $1.3 trillion, down from the $1.5 trillion to $2 trillion range talked about earlier this month, according to Bloomberg reporting cited by Investing.com. The amended S-1 Anthropic filed on November 2 left the price and share count blank. Its Series H preferred stock was sold at about $589 per share, which suggests a stock split will take place before the listing, FourWeekMBA noted.fourweekmba.com+1

Test for the AI trade

The offering arrives after a sell-off in AI stocks, and some observers see it as a measure of investor confidence. CNBC's Jim Cramer said on Monday that a real recovery in AI stocks depends on Anthropic's IPO, Yahoo Finance reported. Even at the top of the new range, the IPO alone would raise less than SpaceX's record $86.25 billion offering. Including the private placement, the total would be larger, according to FourWeekMBA's analysis.finance.yahoo.com+1