Anthropic’s blockbuster stock market debut is suddenly in doubt. Major investors who plan to buy into the offering say the company’s valuation will likely need to come down, and some question whether its roadshow can even start next week in time for a November listing, according to Reuters and The Wall Street Journal, both reporting on November 5.
The numbers tell the story of a valuation sliding in real time. At one point this year, investors expected the offering to seek as much as $2 trillion. More recently the expected figure settled around $1.5 trillion, with Anthropic aiming to raise up to $100 billion in an offering the week before Thanksgiving. Now three major investors who plan to participate say that figure will likely need to come down, with one saying it could be closer to $1 trillion, the Journal reported. Reuters, citing four people familiar with investor discussions, says some investors view $1.5 trillion as the high end of expectations, and are pushing for a more attractive valuation before they commit.
The selloff behind the doubt
The doubts follow the sharpest technology selloff in a year, a two-day rout in AI-related assets after Tuesday’s US midterm elections. The Nasdaq Composite shed roughly $2.5 trillion on Thursday alone, as investors reassessed the AI buildout and the political backlash against data centers (see our earlier report, Nasdaq 100 plunges as AI trade unwinds). Even if the market bounces back, one investor told the Journal, it could be hard to convince institutions just burned in the selloff to take a big new risk on the AI sector.
Investors are also looking hard at Anthropic’s own books. The company has a record of quarterly losses and has made large commitments to partners in the AI buildout, including $895.4 billion in compute and purchase commitments through 2045, according to its S-1 filing. It held $146.6 billion in cash as of September 30. That cash pile is large, but the scale of the commitments is larger, and investors are pressing for a bigger discount to compensate, Reuters reported. They are also awaiting Anthropic’s October revenue figure, which the company left blank in its updated S-1 filing, to judge whether growth has recovered after a slowdown in recent months.
What happens next
The roadshow was initially expected to kick off the week of November 9, with pricing the following week, Reuters previously reported. Anthropic executives and advisers are expected to meet in the coming days to discuss the IPO plans, and a decision to delay would likely fuel further concern about the health of the AI ecosystem. Anthropic declined to comment on investor doubts. If the market for AI-related assets stays under pressure, the company could push the offering back until conditions look more resilient, the people familiar with the discussions said.
Not everyone is bearish. Some analysts say Anthropic, like SpaceX before it, is likely to benefit from strong retail investor demand. “It’s not like these companies are not going to be a part of the future,” Rick Meckler, partner at Cherry Lane Investments, told Reuters. “They’re going to become public. Investors are still going to have a lot of interest in them.”
OpenAI is feeling it too
Anthropic is not the only AI giant facing a colder funding climate. Rival OpenAI has raised only $11 billion of the $30 billion it initially targeted for its latest round, at a valuation of $1.25 trillion, lower than initially targeted, the Journal reported. The parallel is hard to miss: the two most prominent AI labs are both discovering, in the same week, that the market’s appetite for AI valuations has limits.
Why it matters
Anthropic’s listing was supposed to be the defining IPO of the AI era, a $100 billion offering that would test whether public markets still believe in the buildout. The context makes the stakes higher: revenue hit $17 billion in the three months ended September 30, up from $11.6 billion the prior quarter, according to its updated filing, so the business is growing fast even as the market turns. If the roadshow slips, or the valuation lands far below $1.5 trillion, it will read as a verdict on the whole sector, not just one company. A delay could also squeeze the broader market, which is heavily weighted toward large technology firms. For now, the week of November 9 is the date to watch, and Anthropic’s next move will say a lot about how deep the AI backlash really runs.
Sources
- Reuters, “Exclusive: AI backlash could threaten Anthropic IPO timing, potential investors say,” by Echo Wang, Krystal Hu and Milana Vinn, November 5, 2026
- The Wall Street Journal, “Major Investors Are Skeptical Anthropic IPO Can Achieve $1.5 Trillion Valuation,” November 5, 2026 (paywalled; headline and summary verified)
- GPTOnline, “Nasdaq 100 plunges 6.4%, erases $2.3T as AI trade unwinds,” November 5, 2026 (related context)
