By Corrie Driebusch
SpaceX had practically every banker on Wall Street at its beck and call for its blockbuster IPO last week. That won't be the case for OpenAI and Anthropic.
The two artificial-intelligence giants are preparing for what could be dueling initial public offerings this fall, and the same two banks, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, are expected to play major roles in both. But not the same individual bankers.
Instead, both banks are forming distinct teams to ensure no information is shared between the rivals, people familiar with the matter said. Banks are typically very careful about avoiding the appearance of conflicts for all deals, from IPOs to mergers and acquisitions.
It is rare for competitors to go public at the same time, and in recent memory no two competing offerings have used the same lead underwriters. Clients expect discretion from advisers as they pore over financial details and craft strategies for pitching the company to investors.
When ride-share companies Lyft and Uber both went public in 2019, the work was divided between banks: JPMorgan Chase, Credit Suisse and Jefferies led Lyft's offering, while Goldman, Morgan Stanley and Bank of America led Uber's.
The unusual nature of the current situation reflects the stronghold Goldman and Morgan Stanley now have when it comes to technology-industry IPOs. OpenAI and Anthropic are also eyeing jumbo-sized offerings, which require an army of banks to pull off (SpaceX's $86 billion offering used 23).
The full bank lineups for potential offerings from OpenAI and Anthropic aren't finalized.
Chief among the considerations for bankers signing on to help either OpenAI or Anthropic are client relationships, the people said.
Both companies also come with their own potential complications that advisers positioning their IPOs will need to consider: OpenAI has been trying to catch up with Anthropic in the race for lucrative enterprise customers. Anthropic, meanwhile, is seen as more vulnerable to interference from the Trump administration, which recently banned foreign use of its most powerful AI tools (the two sides are discussing a potential deal to restore access).
Anthropic and OpenAI filed for IPOs confidentially within days of each other earlier this month. That put them on track to launch offerings as soon as August, though post-Labor Day offerings are more likely, people familiar with the matter said.
OpenAI has said that "it may be a while" until it goes public because there are "things we want to do that are likely easier as a private company."
Bankers at Goldman and Morgan Stanley who were working on the SpaceX offering avoided weighing in on the two AI companies' preliminary IPO paperwork, some of the people said, given that SpaceX has a nascent AI business and is considered a rival.
The year is on track to be one of the busiest for IPOs in a while after years of muted activity. But activity has been concentrated in larger offerings, mainly of AI-related or defense companies.
Bank fees for the biggest IPOs are significant: Morgan Stanley and Goldman pulled in fees of around $100 million apiece for SpaceX. The remaining banks split the rest of the roughly $500 million fee.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 17, 2026 12:00 ET (16:00 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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