By Angela Palumbo
OpenAI is reportedly preparing to file for an initial public offering any day now. It was a long road to get here.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that artificial intelligence company OpenAI is working with bankers on a draft IPO prospectus it plans to file confidentially with regulators as early as Friday, citing people familiar with the matter. Barron's has reached out to OpenAI for comment.
OpenAI has been one of the most talked about companies in the world since launching ChatGPT, giving everyday people access to generative-AI. Now, the one time start-up is potentially about to debut one of the most highly anticipated initial public offerings ever.
The path to get here was far from a smooth one.
The Beginning
OpenAI was founded in 2015 as a nonprofit AI research company with the goal to "advance digital intelligence in the way that is most likely to benefit humanity as a whole." Some of the company's founding members include current CEO Sam Altman, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Greg Brockman, and Ilya Sutskever.
Musk left OpenAI in 2018. At the time, the company said this was to avoid potential conflicts of interest as Tesla's own AI research was heating up. However, in 2024 Musk sued OpenAI. More on that later.
Tech giant Microsoft made a crucial $1 billion investment in OpenAI in 2019 that would start a multiyear, exclusive partnership between the companies. This funding helped propel OpenAI's research while giving Microsoft access to the firm's AI models. Microsoft has since invested billions more into OpenAI.
It was in 2022 that OpenAI officially launched ChatGPT, an AI chatbot that took the world by storm. People used ChatGPT to get longer answers to general questions, ask for homework help, get email edits, and much more. There's since been multiple updates to the chatbot, making it increasingly more powerful. As of February, ChatGPT has more than 900 million weekly active users and 50 million consumer subscribers.
Not Always Smooth Sailing
Building one of the most influential tech companies comes with its challenges. OpenAI has been no exception.
Altman had to fight for his position as leader of the AI behemoth. In November 2023, OpenAI announced that Altman was being fired after the board lost confidence in his ability to lead the company. After internal pressure, Altman was reinstated as CEO just days later.
OpenAI was originally founded as a nonprofit in 2015. There's since been structural changes to the business as the company continues to need more money. In 2019, OpenAI announced that it was changing its structure and creating OpenAI LP, which was described as a capped-profit LLC. But as the development of AI became more expensive, OpenAI's need to bring in more funding rose.
In October 2025, OpenAI made it official that its for-profit arm would transition to a public-benefit corporation. This allows the company to receive capital while remaining under an overall nonprofit umbrella. The nonprofit is now called the OpenAI Foundation.
Other changes at the company have been made more recently. On April 27, Microsoft and OpenAI announced major updates to their relationship. Microsoft will still license OpenAI models and products through 2032, but that arrangement will no longer be exclusive. OpenAI will still rely on Microsoft as its primary cloud provider, but not as its exclusive provider.
OpenAI isn't alone in its mission to expand AI and its capabilities. Whether it be tech giants like Meta Platforms and Alphabet, or fellow startups like Perplexity and Anthropic, competition is vast.
There's another competitor: Grok, an AI chatbot created by Musk's company xAI. Musk has a tumultuous relationship with OpenAI. He sued the company in 2024, claiming it "stole a charity" when it evolved into a for-profit company. On Monday, a federal jury in California unanimously rejected Musk's claims since the statute of limitations for bringing charges had expired. Musk said in a social media post on X that he will appeal.
What's Next
Wall Street has been watching OpenAI's story play out for over a decade. Investors are now eagerly waiting to get their hands on the company's financials, and buy up shares when it goes public.
More challenges lay ahead. Altman said in a post on X in November that OpenAI expected to end 2025 above $20 billion in annualized revenue run rate, and grow to hundreds of billion by 2030. However, the company is "looking at commitments of about $1.4 trillion over the next 8 years," he said. According to a February report from Reuters, that commitment number has since been updated to $600 billion through 2030.
The Wall Street Journal then reported on April 28 that OpenAI is missing its own revenue targets, falling short of user benchmarks, and is worried about meeting its future spending contracts if sales aren't able to expand at a quicker pace. OpenAI disputed the article.
Still, concerns about whether or not OpenAI can generate enough revenue to support those massive spending commitments are lingering.
Write to Angela Palumbo at angela.palumbo@dowjones.com
This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
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May 21, 2026 19:10 ET (23:10 GMT)
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