OpenAI announced on Monday, June 8, 2026, that it has confidentially submitted a Form S-1 with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, marking a preliminary step toward going public. The filing comes one week after rival Anthropic made the same move on June 1st.
Because the submission is confidential, key details typically disclosed in an S-1 — including executive compensation, business risk factors, and broader financial figures — are not yet available to the public.
The two companies have been in an informal IPO race for the better part of a year. Anthropic currently holds the title of the world’s most valuable startup, with a post-money valuation of $965 billion following its most recent fundraise, edging out OpenAI’s latest post-money valuation of $852 billion.
OpenAI’s path to an IPO has not been without friction. Reports indicate that CFO Sarah Friar has been less enthusiastic than CEO Sam Altman about the accelerated timeline, citing missed revenue targets, slower-than-expected user growth, and concerns over the company’s ability to cover its compute spending commitments. OpenAI initially projected $1.4 trillion in compute infrastructure spending, a figure it later revised down to $600 billion by 2030.
The announcement also arrives weeks after a jury reached a verdict in the high-profile Musk v. Altman trial, and just days before SpaceX’s planned IPO on June 12. SpaceX’s debut is expected to raise $80 billion, which would make it the largest IPO on record. OpenAI’s own public offering may draw direct comparisons to SpaceX, particularly given that SpaceX acquired OpenAI competitor xAI and signed a separate deal with Anthropic — under which Anthropic will pay $15 billion annually to use SpaceX data centers.
No timeline for OpenAI’s public debut has been announced.
Source: The Verge