Anthropic plans Nasdaq IPO for Nov. 19 or 20, WSJ says

Anthropic plans to go ahead with its initial public offering later this month, even after a sharp selloff in artificial intelligence stocks. The Wall Street Journal News Corp ↗ 1.28% reported Monday that the maker of Claude has meetings with major investors this week and wants its shares to start trading next Thursday or Friday, Nov. 19 or 20. The stock will list on the Nasdaq ↗ 1.29% under the ticker "ANT," according to the Journal's reporting.wsj.com+1

The listing is shaping up as a test of how much appetite for AI risk is left after last week's rout. Valuation is now the main open question.

Valuation under pressure

Anthropic is expected to file its target price range early this week. The filing will also show how many shares it plans to sell and could name large investors who have agreed in advance to buy at the IPO price, the Journal reported. A week ago, investors expected the company to aim for a valuation of about $1.5 trillion. Since the selloff, some major investors have pushed for a lower figure, well below the roughly $2 trillion discussed months ago. Executives are working on the range with bankers from Goldman Sachs ↗ 4.67% and Morgan Stanley ↗ 3.12%.investinglive.com

Bloomberg reported that on Friday, some potential investors discussed valuations of $1.1 trillion to $1.3 trillion, as summarized by Investing.com. Anthropic can start formally marketing the deal as early as Tuesday, Nov. 10, once the waiting period after its public filing ends, Bloomberg reported.bloomberg.com+1

A shaken market

Companies in the Nasdaq Composite lost about $2.5 trillion in value on Thursday, Nov. 5, after the U.S. midterm elections brought a bloc of AI skeptics into office and passed moratoriums that could slow data center construction, according to the Journal's account. The swings briefly pushed the VIX above 25. Matt Kennedy of Renaissance Capital told Bloomberg that companies usually postpone IPOs when volatility reaches that level. Stocks rebounded on Monday, and Kennedy said that for Anthropic "it just becomes a matter of where it prices," per Investing.com.finance.yahoo.com+2

What investors are weighing

Anthropic's amended S-1 filing shows third-quarter revenue of $16.96 billion, up from $11.56 billion in the second quarter. It also shows a third-quarter operating loss of $567 million and roughly $895 billion in purchase and lease commitments, mostly for computing capacity, according to Investing.com's analysis.finance.yahoo.com

The company could still wait for calmer markets, but the Journal noted that a delay could set off panic, according to its report. Investors will measure the deal against SpaceX's record offering in June. Rival OpenAI recently raised less than half of its funding target, at a valuation of about $1.25 trillion.investinglive.com