The sell-off of AI stocks has cast doubt on the timing of Anthropic's IPO. What does this mean for the market?

Potential buyers of shares in the AI startup Anthropic doubt that the company will be able to launch its roadshow next week and hold an IPO in November, Reuters reports, citing four sources. Investors’ doubts are partly linked to the sharpest drop in tech stocks in a year, the agency notes. The sell-off in AI stocks began on November 4 following the U.S. congressional elections and escalated on November 5 into a collapse across all U.S. stock indices.

Potential participants in the offering are seeking a more attractive valuation: some of them view the discussed $1.5 trillion as the upper limit of their expectations, sources told Reuters. Anthropic declined to comment on these reports. On the Kalshi prediction market, the probability that the company will officially launch its IPO by November 30 has fallen from 84% to 60%, according to Yahoo Finance.

Investors understand that Anthropic needs to raise funds: the company has been posting losses quarter after quarter and has made significant commitments to its partners in building AI infrastructure. Therefore, it may have to increase the discount to attract bids for its shares, according to Reuters sources.

In addition, investors are awaiting revenue figures for October: in the updated draft prospectus, Anthropic left that line blank. They want to understand whether the company has managed to accelerate growth following a slowdown in recent months, two sources told Reuters.

If Anthropic does end up postponing its IPO, this will likely heighten investors’ concerns about the prospects for the AI industry, especially now that political opposition to its development has become apparent, Reuters reports. In many states, voters have essentially backed restrictions on the construction of data centers. A postponement of the offering could also hit the U.S. stock market as a whole, since a significant portion of its market capitalization is accounted for by large technology companies. If the impression arises that Anthropic is having difficulty raising funds, the valuations of these companies could decline, the agency warns.

Even if Anthropic and its investors agree on the company’s valuation, it may postpone its IPO until the market stabilizes if pressure on AI stocks persists, sources told Reuters. According to them, it is important for the company to wait until the market can sustain demand for the shares in the offering—which, according to some estimates, could reach $100 billion—without major disruptions.

On November 5, Kit Lerner, Chief Investment Officer at Truist Advisory Services, described what is happening with tech stocks as a kind of “buyer strike.” Nevertheless, many investors still believe that the development of AI infrastructure will continue.

There is a prevailing view in the market that Anthropic, like SpaceX before it, will benefit from strong demand from retail investors, Reuters notes. “They [companies like Anthropic—Oninvest] will go public. Investors will continue to show great interest in them,” the agency quotes Rick Mekler, a partner at the family office Cherry Lane Investments, as saying.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor