Anthropic IPO delay fears: AI sell-off puts $1.5 trillion price in doubt

Anthropic’s plan to list on the stock market this month is in doubt after Thursday’s crash in AI shares, according to media reports quoting four people familiar with investors’ discussions. The company behind the Claude chatbot had been expected to start its investor roadshow in the week of 9 November and set its share price the week after.

That timetable was drawn up before Wall Street’s worst day since April 2025. On Thursday, 5 November, the Nasdaq fell 5.5% and the S&P 500 lost 4.4% as chip and AI stocks collapsed after the US midterm elections, as we reported in Money & Markets.

What investors are worried about

• The price. Anthropic’s value has recently been discussed at about $1.5 trillion. Some potential investors now see that as the top of the range, and the reports say the company may have to offer a bigger discount to win orders. Earlier this year, people expected an October listing at a value of up to $2 trillion.
• The size. The share sale could raise as much as $100 billion, which would make it one of the largest listings ever. Big deals need calm markets.
• Losses and commitments. Anthropic has a record of quarterly losses and large spending commitments to its cloud and chip partners, as its filing showed.
• October’s revenue. The company left the October revenue figure blank in its updated S-1 filing. Investors want to see it to judge whether growth has picked up again after it slowed in the third quarter.

If pressure on AI shares continues, the reports say Anthropic could wait until markets settle. Anthropic declined to comment.

Not everyone expects a long wait

Rick Meckler, a partner at Cherry Lane Investments, was blunt: “They’re going to become public.” The question is when and at what price. Keith Lerner of Truist Advisory Services described the current mood as “something of a buyers’ strike in tech”, with tech shares trailing the wider market by 10.7% over the past month.

Our take

An IPO is the moment a private company sells shares to the public for the first time. Timing matters: list in a falling market and the company raises less money, or its shares drop on day one. A short delay is common and would not say much about Anthropic’s business. A much lower price would be a bigger signal that investors are cooling on AI as a whole.

For people in Pakistan who use Claude for coding, writing or freelance work, nothing changes today. The service and prices are not tied to the listing date.

The next sign will come early next week: whether Anthropic’s roadshow starts on schedule.