OpenAI Files Confidential IPO Paperwork with SEC, Joining AI Companies Racing to Wall Street
OpenAI announced Monday it has confidentially filed an S-1 registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, a preliminary step toward a potential initial public offering. The move follows rival Anthropic's similar filing one week earlier and comes as Elon Musk's SpaceX, which merged with xAI, has already begun its IPO roadshow. The filings mark a significant moment for the AI industry, as three of its most prominent companies simultaneously pursue public market debuts that could raise enormous amounts of capital.
OpenAI, the San Francisco-based maker of ChatGPT, announced Monday that it has submitted a confidential S-1 filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission, opening the door to a potential public offering. The company, currently valued at approximately $852 billion, said it has not yet decided on timing and acknowledged that some planned activities may be easier to complete while still private. OpenAI is working with Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley on the filing, the same two banks leading SpaceX's IPO. The move follows Anthropic's confidential IPO filing on June 1 and SpaceX's ongoing roadshow, creating an unprecedented race among top AI companies to access public markets. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who first floated the IPO possibility last fall, published a blog post Monday framing the company as entering a 'third phase' focused on making AI broadly accessible and affordable. The company also plans a tender offer allowing employees to sell shares at the current $852 billion valuation. OpenAI has raised more than $180 billion in total funding but continues to burn cash as it builds out compute infrastructure and competes against rivals including Anthropic, Google, and xAI.
What's missing
OpenAI's unusual corporate structure—technically still under the control of a nonprofit despite its conversion to a public benefit corporation—raises unresolved governance questions that could complicate or delay a traditional IPO process. Coverage largely glosses over how this structure might affect shareholder rights or the nonprofit's ongoing role post-IPO.
How coverage differed
All three sources are rated center and covered the story in largely factual terms, though CNBC provided the most financial detail, including the Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley banking relationships and the planned employee tender offer, reflecting its business-focused audience. AP and The Hill framed the story more broadly around the competitive AI IPO race without emphasizing OpenAI's cash burn or investor pressure.
What different sources said
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