OpenAI CFO tells staff company will go public by 2027

OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar told employees during an all-hands meeting on Wednesday that the artificial intelligence company "will be a public company in 2027," but could make its public market debut sooner if "our business continues to inflect."cnbc

"The IPO is not a finish line, it is a milestone, another fundraise," Friar told employees, according to CNBC's reporting. "We raised $122 billion in March, and that gives us flexibility." Barron's News Corp ↗ 1.27% separately confirmed the timeline, reporting that OpenAI plans to be public by next year.barrons+1

A Race With Anthropic

The announcement comes amid intensifying competition with rival Anthropic, which is widely expected to reach public markets first. Prediction markets on Kalshi currently give Anthropic 92% odds of IPOing before OpenAI, with combined volume on the "who IPOs first" market reaching $341,000.startuphub

Friar's message appeared aimed at calming internal concerns about the company's strategic positioning. Sources described her tone as blunt, telling staff not to worry about Anthropic's timeline. The competitive dynamic between the two AI heavyweights has intensified over the past year, with Anthropic winning enterprise customers with its Claude models while OpenAI maintains consumer dominance through ChatGPT.techbuzz

Path to Public Markets

For OpenAI, the road to an IPO has required years of corporate restructuring. The company began as a nonprofit research lab in 2015, then created a capped-profit subsidiary in 2019 to attract capital. Untangling governance issues and creating a cap table suitable for public markets has been a multi-year effort.techbuzz

Friar joined OpenAI as CFO in 2023 after serving as CEO of Square, now Block ↘ 1.10%, bringing deep public markets experience. Her hire was widely interpreted as a signal that OpenAI was serious about eventual public readiness.techbuzz

Microsoft ↘ 1.35%, which has invested over $13 billion in OpenAI, would see its stake marked to market once the company goes public. Google Alphabet Inc. ↘ 0.72%, meanwhile, has invested heavily in Anthropic while building its own Gemini models.techbuzz

The 2027 timeline gives OpenAI roughly a year to demonstrate consistent revenue growth and prove that its computing costs won't erode margins. The company's annualized revenue reportedly crossed $3.4 billion earlier this year, driven by ChatGPT subscriptions and API access.techbuzz