OpenAI confirmed on X on June 8 that it had secretly filed an S-1 registration statement with the U.S. SEC, saying that it has not set a listing timeline and adding that it would “retain the option to go public early if conditions allow.” OpenAI’s current valuation is $852 billion. A week earlier, on June 1, Anthropic submitted a confidential S-1, with both major AI developers moving in sync toward the public markets.
OpenAI Key Financial and Product Scale Data
Monthly revenue: about $2 billion
Prior full-year revenue: about $13.1 billion
Cumulative private fundraising: more than $170 billion (as of the S-1 filing date)
ChatGPT weekly active users: over 900 million
Paid users: about 50 million
Profitability: not yet profitable; the company’s capital is continuously being consumed by costs for computing infrastructure, data centers, and model training
Internal target by March 2028 (disclosed by OpenAI itself): AI systems can share responsibility for most research work together with human researchers
Background on OpenAI’s IPO Path
OpenAI was founded in 2015 as a nonprofit. In 2019, it added a for-profit subsidiary with a profit cap, and later reorganized again into a public-benefit corporation to support larger-scale fundraising. Co-founder Elon Musk challenged this in court, alleging that OpenAI deviated from its mission.
In May 2026, a jury ruled in favor of OpenAI, clearing one of the biggest legal obstacles that had previously blocked a listing. The standard IPO process is: SEC review, public S-1 filing, roadshow, pricing, and listing. A confidential submission allows the SEC to privately review draft materials without setting a public timeline.
Competitive Landscape: Anthropic and SpaceX Move to the Public Markets in Parallel
Anthropic filed a confidential S-1 on June 1, 2026, with a valuation of about $965 billion (estimated from the most recent private fundraising round). SpaceX filed earlier, targeting a valuation in the trillions of dollars.
On the product side, OpenAI is currently facing competition from Google Gemini, Elon Musk’s xAI, Meta, and AI developers in China. After the public S-1 filing, investors will for the first time receive regulatory-level transparency, including audited financial data, detailed risk factors, and an overview of the ownership structure.
FAQ
What are the differences between OpenAI’s confidential S-1 filing and a formal IPO?
A confidential S-1 filing allows the company to have the SEC privately review its draft prospectus, with no need for a public schedule during the process. The full standard listing flow must be completed in sequence: SEC review → public S-1 filing → roadshow → pricing → listing. OpenAI has stated that it has “not decided on a listing timeline yet.”
How is OpenAI’s valuation of $852 billion determined?
$852 billion is the post-money valuation after completing a $122 billion funding round in March 2026. Investors include SoftBank, Amazon, NVIDIA, and Microsoft. This is the valuation in the private market; after listing, the public market will independently price it.
What impact does Elon Musk’s legal challenge have on OpenAI’s IPO?
Musk accused OpenAI of deviating from its nonprofit mission during the process of reorganizing into a public-benefit corporation. In May 2026, a jury ruled in favor of OpenAI, removing one of the main legal obstacles that legal observers previously believed could potentially hinder the IPO.
