Anthropic IPO draws demand for several times the shares on offer, Bloomberg reports

Prospective investors have indicated interest in several times the number of shares on offer in Anthropic’s initial public offering, Bloomberg News reported Wednesday, citing people familiar with the deal. Interest in large blocks of shares drove demand a day after the maker of Claude began marketing the offering.[1][3]

Bankers are considering a price above the $70 to $78 range Anthropic filed Tuesday, the Financial Times reported, citing people familiar with the discussions. A higher price could put the company’s valuation at $1.5 trillion or more, the newspaper reported.[2][3] An Anthropic representative did not immediately respond to Bloomberg’s request for comment on the demand report.[1]

Bloomberg did not report the exact number of shares investors had requested. At this stage, indications of interest signal how much investors might buy at the eventual price. Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are leading the offering, and the prospectus says the final price will be negotiated among Anthropic, its selling shareholders and representatives of the underwriters.[1][3][4]

Anthropic and existing shareholders are offering 825 million Class A shares. At $78, that base offering would bring in about $64.4 billion before fees, including proceeds that go to the selling shareholders. The underwriters have a 30-day option to buy up to 123.75 million additional shares. Separately, seven technology companies have agreed to buy $26 billion in nonvoting shares at the IPO price, subject to the IPO closing and other conditions.[3]

At the top of the filed range, Bloomberg put Anthropic’s fully diluted valuation at about $1.4 trillion. That measure counts potential shares as well as shares that would be outstanding at listing. Applying the same $78 price to the filing’s 13.09 billion projected outstanding shares after the base offering and private placement implies about $1.02 trillion.[1][3]

In the updated prospectus, Anthropic put its annualized revenue run rate at about $81 billion as of Oct. 31, up $10 billion from a month earlier. The figure extrapolates a recent period of usage fees and subscriptions. The company recorded nearly $17 billion in revenue and a $567 million operating loss in the three months through September.[3]

Lukas Muehlbauer, an associate at IPOX Schuster, told Reuters that the company’s growth made a trillion-dollar valuation worth taking seriously. He said its longer-term value would depend on how much cash customers bring in after Anthropic pays for model development and computing infrastructure.[6]

Bloomberg reported that Anthropic plans to host a livestream for prospective investors Friday with Chief Executive Dario Amodei and JPMorgan Chase Chief Executive Jamie Dimon.[1]

Fidelity expects Anthropic’s registration statement to take effect and the deal to price on the evening of Nov. 18. RetailBook’s timetable puts the planned Nasdaq debut under the symbol ANT on Nov. 19. The securities cannot be sold until the registration statement takes effect.[4][5][3]