Anthropic encountered a disclosure misstep during its initial public offering process. The artificial intelligence company sent a document containing IPO pricing details to underwriter banks and then issued a correction email saying the pricing information was incorrect and that it would update the filing later.
On November 9, emails seen by Reuters showed that Anthropic's initial document indicated the company planned to offer about 867 million shares at a price range of $70 to $80 per share. If the IPO were completed within that range, the scale would be extremely large. At the same time, Anthropic said seven technology giants — NVIDIA, AMD, Broadcom, Micron, Microsoft, and TSMC — would invest a combined $26 billion in a private placement of shares at the IPO price.
However, in a second email sent afterward, Anthropic clearly stated that the pricing-related details were erroneous and that the company would update the IPO documents later.
Pricing Details Briefly Exposed and Then Withdrawn
According to emails obtained by Reuters, Anthropic first sent bankers a copy of the IPO document disclosing core information such as the number of shares to be issued and the price range.
Anthropic planned to raise as much as $69.3 billion in the IPO by issuing new shares, with a price range of $70 to $80 per share. Anthropic intended to issue 866,666,664 Class A ordinary shares in the IPO.
At the same time, Anthropic said seven technology giants — NVIDIA, AMD, Broadcom, Micron, Microsoft, and TSMC — would invest a combined $26 billion in a private placement of shares at the IPO price.
This lineup covers almost all the core players in the current AI supply chain — from cloud computing platforms and AI chip design to wafer foundry — with participants spanning the entire semiconductor and cloud services ecosystem.
Meanwhile, cornerstone investors planned to sell about 23.33 million shares in the IPO. That portion is a transfer of old shares, and the proceeds would go to the sellers rather than the company itself. This means the IPO would include both the issuance of new shares and the sale of existing shares.
However, before the outside world had widely digested the data, the company immediately sent a second email denying the previously disclosed pricing information and promising to provide an updated version.
This disclosure misstep occurred at a critical point in Anthropic's highly anticipated IPO process. The price range of $70 to $80 per share and the planned offering size of about 867 million shares mean the potential fundraising scale of the IPO would be in the tens of billions of dollars, making it one of the largest technology IPOs in recent years.
However, because the pricing details were voluntarily withdrawn by the company, the accuracy of those figures cannot currently be confirmed, and investors and market participants still need to wait for Anthropic to release corrected official documents.
Roadshow May Start as Early as Tuesday, Aiming to List Next Thursday or Friday
Anthropic's IPO timetable has entered a critical stage.
According to media reports, under relevant rules, after filing its prospectus publicly on October 26, Anthropic could begin formal IPO marketing as early as November 10. If all goes smoothly, the company could complete pricing in the week of November 16 and list on the Nasdaq under the ticker "ANT" before the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday on November 26.
However, severe market volatility has made valuation the core issue in negotiations among all parties. Several months ago, the market had discussed a valuation figure of about $2 trillion, but Anthropic now almost certainly needs to accept a much lower valuation. According to a report citing a person familiar with the matter, the valuation discussed by some potential investors has fallen to about $1.2 trillion to $1.3 trillion, and some are even considering a figure as low as $1.1 trillion.
The report said Anthropic has arranged meetings with key investors this week, with the goal of having its shares begin trading next Thursday or Friday. The company may still postpone its valuation target and wait for more favorable market conditions, but that could trigger market panic.
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