Anthropic IPO Buyers Push Valuation to $1.5T After Tech Selloff

Institutional investors who plan to anchor Anthropic's Nasdaq debut have told the company its listing should price at $1.5 trillion to $1.6 trillion, down from the roughly $2 trillion figure the Claude maker and its advisers had floated in recent months, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The pullback is not a verdict on Anthropic's business. Buyers cite "a general selloff in technology stocks and a desire to leave room for a first-day trading gain" when the shares begin trading, according to the paper, which was picked up by Yahoo Finance the same day. Last week's tech rout, not a stumble inside Anthropic, is what moved the number.

The growth figures underneath the deal are still vertical. Anthropic told prospective investors that "third-quarter revenue reached $16.8 billion, up 45% from the second quarter," though some buyers were disappointed that the pace cooled from Q2, when "second-quarter revenue of $11.6 billion had more than doubled from the first quarter." That deceleration, however steep the absolute figures, is what gave the pushback room to land.

The roadshow could start as soon as next week, with a debut targeted for the week before Thanksgiving. Anthropic has not yet finalized the share count or the final price range. The news lands alongside our tracking of the amended S-1 that disclosed those same quarterly numbers earlier this week.