APREX · EST. 2026
The capital race between the world's two leading AI companies has reached the stock market. OpenAI has submitted a confidential IPO filing with U.S. regulators, according to TechCrunch, following in the footsteps of its closest competitor Anthropic, which took the same step just over a week earlier.
A Structural Overhaul Paves the Way
The path to a traditional public listing has not been straightforward for OpenAI. The company was founded as a nonprofit in 2015 and introduced a so-called "capped-profit" model in 2019, under which investor returns were originally limited to 100 times the capital invested.
In October 2025, the company underwent a sweeping restructuring. Its commercial operations were converted into a Delaware Public Benefit Corporation (PBC) under the name OpenAI Group PBC. According to available research, this restructuring removed the explicit return cap, allowing future shareholders to participate proportionally in the company's value growth — in line with conventional publicly traded companies.
The restructuring removes the return cap and opens the door to a more conventional IPO — but governance remains bound to a humanitarian mandate
At the same time, the OpenAI Foundation — the nonprofit parent organization — retains a 26 percent ownership stake and control over board composition in the PBC. Microsoft holds approximately 27 percent, valued at around $135 billion, while employees and other investors control the remaining 47 percent.
Growth Without Profitability
The numbers underpinning the venture are impressive, but not without risk.
CEO Sam Altman has publicly stated a goal of $100 billion in revenue by 2027. The road there, however, is paved with red ink: the company expects losses of $14 billion in 2026, and cumulative deficits could reach $115 billion by 2029, according to available research. Profitability is not expected until the 2030s at the earliest.
The IPO is reportedly intended to raise $60 billion — funds the company needs for data centers, supercomputers, and technical talent.
The Race With Anthropic
The fact that Anthropic filed its IPO paperwork just one week before OpenAI is unlikely to be a coincidence. The two companies compete intensely for enterprise customers, developer talent, and investor capital. Both are now positioning themselves to raise public capital in what could become one of the most talked-about technology listing periods since the dot-com era.
Investors considering participation in a potential OpenAI offering will, however, encounter an unusual proposition: a company with a unique governance structure in which the board's primary loyalty is defined as being "to humanity," not to shareholders. Added to this are risks tied to tightening AI regulation internationally and stiff competition from Google Gemini, Anthropic, and other players.
The confidential filing means that details on timing and pricing are not yet publicly available. The IPO is expected to take place in late 2026 or early 2027, according to TechCrunch and available background material.