Investors Question Anthropic’s $1.5 Trillion Valuation as It Prepares to List
Key Facts
Anthropic filed a registration statement for the public offering of its Class A common stock with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, a formal step toward a listing. But the $1.5 trillion valuation discussed among investors has prompted reservations from some potential buyers, who viewed it as at the high end of their expectations, according to a Reuters report published on November 5. The company said it intends to list the shares on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol ANT. Anthropic has not specified how many shares it will offer or the price range, and has not announced when trading will begin. The concerns reported by Reuters involved whether the company could proceed with its investor roadshow and listing in November amid a decline in technology stocks.
The valuation under discussion marks a retreat from the upper end of expectations some investors had previously set. Reuters reported that investors discussed a valuation of about $1.5 trillion in October, after earlier expecting about $2 trillion for the share sale anticipated in November. Anthropic has not confirmed that either figure represents an official target valuation on its part. The gap reflects price negotiations as investors weigh the company’s growth against its substantial commitments to computing and infrastructure. Reuters said the valuation discussions were partly affected by the steepest technology-stock sell-off in a year, along with geopolitical uncertainty surrounding the outlook for new offerings.
Technology stocks broadly fell in the session before the Reuters report. Axios reported that the Nasdaq Composite fell 5.5% at Thursday’s close on November 5, leaving it about 12% below its peak on October 6. The SOX semiconductor index dropped 12.3% in the same session. In its November 5 report, Reuters quoted Keith Lerner as saying technology stocks had underperformed the S&P 500 by 10.7% over the previous month, the largest monthly relative decline since May 2002. That performance puts AI, data-center and chip stocks under additional pressure as Anthropic tries to gauge investor appetite for an offering of this size.
Growth and profitability figures are part of investors’ calculations alongside market volatility. Anthropic’s revenue for the three months ended September 30, 2026, was about $17.0 billion, compared with $1.4 billion in the corresponding period of 2025, according to its filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The filing showed revenue rose 47% from the previous quarter to $16.96 billion in the third quarter, after increasing 144% in the second quarter. At the same time, the company posted an operating loss of $567 million in the third quarter, compared with operating income of $974 million in the second quarter, according to Reuters. The operating margin was negative 3% in the third quarter, compared with a negative 224% margin and an operating loss of $3.1 billion in the corresponding period of 2025. The filing also showed a net loss of $104.0 billion in the first nine months of 2026, after a loss of $42.0 billion for all of 2025.
On commercial demand, Reuters said Anthropic had more than 11,900 customers each generating at least $100,000 on a trailing 12-month basis through September 30, up from more than 1,500 at the end of 2025. But investors were also waiting for the October revenue figure, which the company left blank in an amended S-1 filing, to assess whether growth had recovered after slowing in previous months. Growth assessments intersect with the resources the company has committed to securing for running its models. The S-1 amendment showed total spending commitments of about $895.4 billion as of September 30, 2026 and beyond, mostly for computing and infrastructure. Anthropic said about $447.5 billion of those commitments is expected to be spent before the end of 2030, and about $69.8 billion is due in the 12 months following September 30, 2026.
The computing network includes partners such as Amazon and Google; Reuters estimated computing commitments with partners at about $900 billion through its November 2 report. Anthropic warned in its filing that some computing providers and infrastructure partners rely on financing or credit support from third parties. If financing is unavailable or becomes more expensive, contracted capacity could be delayed, repriced, reduced or not delivered, according to the filing. These risks directly link financing terms and the availability of computing capacity to the expansion plans underpinning the company’s growth. Potential investors told Reuters that continued pressure on AI-related assets could prompt the company to delay its offering until the market is better able to absorb it; some estimated the potential offering at about $100 billion.
The investor roadshow was initially expected to begin in the week starting November 9, with pricing expected the following week, Reuters previously reported. Those dates were expectations for the deal schedule, not a company announcement of a listing date. The next step in assessing demand remains completing the roadshow and disclosing the October revenue figure omitted from the amended filing. The share count and price range had not been set when Anthropic announced its intention to list on Nasdaq. The offering’s timing and pricing therefore remain tied to what the company discloses and the market’s ability to absorb the deal.