Anthropic’s $2 trillion test

We’ve all heard it: AI could take our jobs, outsmart humans, or, if you ask some, kill us all. Anthropic isn’t interested in dispelling the rumors.

The Claude maker’s newly leaked IPO prospectus spends a sizable chunk of its 261 pages laying out everything that could go wrong as AI gets smarter, including “catastrophic or existential risks to humanity.” But for investors considering buying in, the scarier reading may be the 48 pages covering the actual business.

Among the numbers inside:

• Anthropic is seeking a valuation above $2 trillion, more than double the $965 billion valuation estimated in May.
• While revenue grew twelvefold in 2025 to nearly $4.6 billion, the company still posted a net loss of roughly $42 billion. Most of that came from an accounting charge, but operating losses still exceeded $8 billion. In other words, for every dollar the company brought in, Anthropic lost $9.
• Of at least $518 billion committed to cloud computing and other AI infrastructure over roughly the next decade, about 80% is effectively noncancelable.
• Two customers accounted for nearly a quarter of revenue last year, and the firm disclosed that many major customers are not locked into long-term contracts.

It’s quite the filing, full of shaky numbers—leaving some to suggest that if the company’s name weren’t Anthropic, going public would be out of the question. It also leaves investors wondering whether Anthropic’s heavy emphasis on AI safety also gives it cover for weak financials by framing slower growth as a matter of caution rather than execution.

The waiting game

Anthropic is now expected to go public after the November midterm elections, later than previously planned—but still ahead of OpenAI, which has delayed its IPO until early 2027 over safety concerns. Whoever gets there first will do more than claim bragging rights: They will give public investors their first real chance to put a price on a frontier AI company, setting the tone for how much markets will tolerate the sector’s combination of explosive growth, enormous losses, and even bigger capital requirements.

Big Tech isn’t the only corner of the market getting cold feet. Today, smart-ring maker Oura also postponed its offering. “We aim to deliver an extraordinary IPO for our employees and investors, and we have the luxury of choosing our moment,” CEO Tom Hale said in a statement.

He’s not wrong: The company is doing pretty well, as revenue rose 74% in the nine months through June, while net income jumped to $60.8 million from $1.6 million a year earlier. But it signals that the turbulent market has sent companies scrambling—and perhaps this won’t be the last one to delay its public offering.

High price, high risk

At $2 trillion, Anthropic could be the largest IPO ever. That big, flashy number captures a lot of attention, but don’t let it distract you from taking a hard look at how much the company is really worth.

With $4.59 billion in revenue, a $2 trillion valuation would give Anthropic a price-to-sales ratio of 435x. For reference, SpaceX’s P/S ratio is one of the highest on the market at 115, while the average across the S&P 500 is 3.3.

It’s an exorbitant price to pay for a company that keeps losing money. Oura’s hesitance to IPO is an indication that today’s turbulence isn’t going anywhere, and the combination of market volatility and Anthropic’s weak financials might mean this is one debut you may want to avoid.—SY