OpenAI Cuts Its Asking Price by $150 Billion. Now It’s Anthropic’s Turn

Weeks before Anthropic’s planned November IPO, its biggest rival has handed investors a gift: proof that even a trillion-dollar asking price is negotiable. Bloomberg reports that OpenAI has lowered its target valuation in talks to raise roughly $30 billion, from $1.4 trillion to $1.25 trillion. That is $150 billion, or almost 11%, off the target before the deal has even closed. Anthropic, whose shareholders had been anticipating a valuation of around $2 trillion at its listing, now has to defend that price with its closest rival already entertaining a discount.

The concession still leaves an enormous increase since spring. OpenAI’s revised target is roughly 47% above the $852 billion valuation attached to its $122 billion March round. Those are reported headline valuations with different bases: March’s figure included the new capital, while CNBC, as reported by TechCrunch, describes the new target as pre-money. OpenAI is seeking a substantial increase over its spring valuation even as it gives ground on its autumn asking price. Coatue Management is in talks to co-lead the round; OpenAI has also held discussions with several United Arab Emirates investment funds and BlackRock. Final terms have yet to be settled.

The revision coincides with a tech-stock selloff following mixed earnings from Meta and Tesla, as investors press harder for evidence that AI spending can deliver proportionate returns. The timing is particularly awkward for OpenAI. Reuters reported on October 19 that the company was racing to secure investor commitments ahead of Anthropic’s expected mid-November debut. The two labs are courting an overlapping pool of investors. OpenAI wants to lock in funding before the stock market puts a public price on its nearest competitor.

Anthropic’s own valuation negotiations were already getting tougher. Reuters reported on October 15 that some existing and prospective investors, after reviewing the company’s financial results, were discussing a valuation of around $1.5 trillion—25% below earlier expectations of $2 trillion. OpenAI’s concession strengthens an argument those buyers were already making. They now have a fresh example of another leading model developer trimming its ambitions to bring in new money.

Anthropic has substantial numbers to defend its premium. According to CNBC, it told investors that third-quarter revenue reached $16.8 billion, up from $11.6 billion in the second quarter and $4.7 billion in the first, and that cash flow was positive. Sequential revenue growth nevertheless slowed to roughly 45%, after more than doubling the previous quarter. We have already examined this awkward combination ahead of the IPO: sales are growing extraordinarily fast, but expectations have grown faster. A $2 trillion valuation would amount to roughly 30 times the latest quarter’s revenue annualized; at $1.5 trillion, the multiple would still be about 22. Even that discount leaves buyers paying heavily for growth yet to come.

There is still room to get the offering done. In its October 22 report, Reuters described Anthropic as effectively the last major technology IPO left on the autumn calendar, after market turbulence drove other companies to step back. Anthropic was pressing ahead with preparations for a mid-November listing, potentially publishing its prospectus in late October and beginning marketing during the week of November 9. Large investors remained interested. An open IPO window, however, does not entitle the seller to its preferred valuation.

“A once-robust fall calendar for technology IPOs is down to just Anthropic.” — Reuters, October 22, 2026

OpenAI’s fundraising puts pressure on Anthropic in two ways. A lower valuation for its rival gives IPO buyers another bargaining tool. Securing $30 billion first could also tie up some of the money their shared investors might otherwise commit to the listing. That sharpens Anthropic’s trade-off: accept a lower valuation, raise less money, or sell a larger stake to bring in the same amount. Postponing the IPO carries a cost too, especially if AI valuations keep falling. Once Anthropic lists, the pressure will run the other way: its daily share price will become a benchmark for OpenAI’s next funding round or eventual IPO.

The bills are less negotiable than the valuations. As we wrote in our examination of Anthropic’s IPO economics, the company has already taken on hundreds of billions of dollars in infrastructure commitments. Reuters reported that roughly 80% of its programme of at least $518 billion over a decade is non-cancellable or payable regardless of how much capacity it uses. A lower IPO valuation leaves the cost of expansion intact; raising less money leaves less cash to meet it. November’s offering will test how much investors are willing to pay for that combination now that the sellers have started making serious concessions.