Patience has a price, and someone else is paying it. OpenAI may wait until 2027 to go public. The wait is meant to buy a bigger number.
OpenAI is weighing a listing as late as 2027, Bloomberg reported. That timeline could see it go public after its rival Anthropic. Altman has reportedly rejected an earlier debut at a lower price, holding out for a $1 trillion valuation.
The company is not rushing. OpenAI confidentially filed its prospectus with regulators this month. It says it may be a while before it lists, and it has not held pre-IPO investor meetings or set a date, CNBC reported.
The cost of waiting
The delay landed hardest on SoftBank. Its shares fell as much as 13%, the sharpest one-day drop in months. SoftBank expects to hold about $65bn in OpenAI by October, and its investors had bet the listing was close.
The bankers felt it too. Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs both slipped, because a delayed mega-listing means delayed fees. A 2027 debut also cedes ground in the race to go public, where Anthropic has filed as well.
A flinch the market noticed
The timing is awkward. OpenAI floated the delay during a brutal week for the AI trade. Chip stocks tumbled, and Oracle posted its worst week since 2001. Investors are asking whether vast AI spending will pay off. Waiting for calmer, richer markets is a rational call. It also looks like a flinch.
Going public invites a hard look at the finances, and OpenAI burns cash at a colossal rate. A trillion-dollar tag needs a market in the mood to believe it. Right now that mood is shakier than it was a month ago.
Why it matters
An IPO date is not just a date. It sets who gets paid, and when. A 2027 listing rewards OpenAI’s pricing discipline and protects Altman’s number. It also postpones the payday for SoftBank and the banks, and it risks letting Anthropic ring the bell first.
So the OpenAI IPO becomes a waiting game with a clear logic and an unclear cost. Altman is betting the prize grows faster than the patience runs out. The market just reminded everyone that the bet is not free.
