From the Wall Street Journal, September 18:
Anthropic Shifts Planned IPO to November
Investors had expected the Claude maker to debut in October; the AI industry has been grappling with calls to slow its pace of development
Anthropic plans to stage its blockbuster initial public offering in November, later than many investors expected, as leaders of the biggest companies in the artificial-intelligence race call for a slowdown in the development of the technology.
The AI giant had been expected to stage a record-breaking offering in October, according to people familiar with the matter. Some of Anthropic’s advisers say waiting until November would give the startup time to share third-quarter financials that show a strong competitive position, even after rival OpenAI launched its newest model, Astra, in September.
Some of the people familiar with the timing say the decision to aim for a November offering was made before a public warning from a former Anthropic researcher set off a debate about whether AI advancements are moving too fast. They caution the timing could still change.
Anthropic Chief Executive Dario Amodei was the first of the three major AI executives to call for a slowdown, penning a blog post Saturday that said the risks posed by today’s cutting-edge tools were too great to continue development at the same breakneck pace. Leaders of rival AI labs including OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and SpaceX’s Elon Musk echoed the sentiment.
Investors have expected Anthropic to be valued at around $2 trillion and raise up to $100 billion in the offering, both figures that would top records set by SpaceX’s June debut.
Anthropic plans to meet with prospective investors in the coming days, some of whom are expected to push the company on what impact a possible slowdown in the rollout of new AI models would mean for Anthropic’s finances or target valuation....
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