Anthropic sets IPO range of $70 to $78 a share, with Nasdaq trading expected on 19 November

Anthropic, the maker of the Claude chatbot, set a price range of $70 to $78 a share for its initial public offering on Tuesday, 10 November, per Reuters reports carried by Hindustan Times and bdnews24. This piece is as of the morning of 11 November. Disclosure: this piece was drafted with a model made by Anthropic, the company it covers; the facts below are attributed to the outlets cited.

The offering

Anthropic and some of its existing shareholders are aiming to raise up to $64.4 billion by selling 825 million shares, and shares are expected to start trading on the Nasdaq on 19 November under the symbol "ANT", Reuters reports (bdnews24). Mint, citing the filing, gives the same range and share count and puts the amount raised at the top of the range at about $64.35 billion. Reuters adds that Anthropic will raise a further $26 billion in a separate private placement with cornerstone investors including Google, Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices (Hindustan Times). The Indian Express says that with those and other shares the company could raise up to $100 billion at the highest end of its ambitions, which it says would make this the largest IPO in history.

The valuation

Outlets give different valuation figures. The Indian Express says the range values Anthropic at $1.26 trillion to $1.41 trillion with all shares counted, below a $2 trillion figure bankers had floated in the summer and above the company's private valuation of $900 billion. Reuters says the offering values the company at up to $1.4 trillion, slightly short of some investors' expectations (bdnews24). Asianet Newsable quotes Patrick Moorhead, CEO of Moor Insights & Strategy, putting the implied valuation at $916 billion to $1.02 trillion, and $1.2 trillion to $1.3 trillion fully diluted. He posted that "maybe, just maybe, they are pricing it to go crazy on IPO day", and said investors' central question is whether annualised revenue of $81 billion can support a commitment to spend $900.9 billion over a decade.

Market backdrop and comparisons

Reuters says the roadshow is starting despite a recent sell-off in tech stocks, as investors question whether AI returns will justify heavy spending and rising debt costs (Hindustan Times). The Indian Express describes the company as fast-growing but money-losing, and quotes Craig Coben, a former head of equity capital markets at Bank of America, calling the offering "too crucial to fail" (The Indian Express).

Comparisons with SpaceX's June listing differ by outlet. Reuters and Asianet Newsable say SpaceX raised $75 billion at a valuation of nearly $1.75 trillion (bdnews24, Asianet Newsable); The Indian Express says $86 billion at $1.77 trillion (The Indian Express). We have not reconciled the figures.