OpenAI Eyes Q4 IPO As Competition With Anthropic Heats Up

OpenAI is reportedly preparing for a potential initial public offering in the fourth quarter of this year, according to people familiar with the plans, as rivalry with fellow AI startup Anthropic continues to intensify.

Sources say the company, valued at about $500 billion, has begun informal discussions with major Wall Street banks about a possible IPO and is strengthening its finance leadership ahead of a listing. As part of that push, OpenAI recently hired Ajmere Dale as chief accounting officer and Cynthia Gaylor as corporate business finance officer, with oversight of investor relations.

Market watchers expect a strong rebound in IPO activity after a prolonged slowdown, with some analysts predicting that 2026 could become the busiest year on record for stock market debuts. OpenAI, alongside Anthropic and SpaceX, is seen as one of the most high-profile technology firms that could go public, even as smaller companies have already begun returning to the markets.

Still, taking OpenAI public by the end of the year could prove challenging. The ChatGPT maker is navigating the pressures of rapid growth, recent leadership changes, and intensifying competition from Google in its core consumer AI products. These pressures prompted the company to launch a weekslong “code red” initiative aimed at improving ChatGPT’s performance. OpenAI is also preparing for a legal battle with co-founder Elon Musk, who is seeking up to $134 billion in damages.

A public listing could help ease investor concerns over how OpenAI plans to finance massive long-term spending on AI infrastructure and advanced chip deals expected to cost hundreds of billions of dollars.

“Am I excited to be a public company CEO? 0%. Am I excited for OpenAI to be a public company? In some ways, I am, and in some ways I think it’d be really annoying,” Chief Executive Sam Altman said on the Big Technology podcast in December.

As OpenAI moves closer to a potential IPO, Altman is expected to shift some day-to-day responsibilities to former Instacart CEO Fidji Simo, who currently leads the company’s product and business operations as CEO of Applications.