Investors are lining up for Anthropic PBC’s stock in numbers that give its bankers room to raise the price. Orders for the initial public offering already cover the 825 million Class A shares on offer several times over, with large anchor-size bids from institutions doing much of the work, according to people familiar with the book. Marketing only started on Tuesday.
Underwriters led by Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are discussing whether to price the deal above the $70-to-$78 range set this week, people familiar with the talks said. Some of the company’s existing backers have said Anthropic cares more about raising money for computing power than about squeezing out the highest valuation, which argues for a measured increase rather than a big jump.
What the numbers already say
At $78 a share the base deal raises $64.35 billion. The underwriters also have an option to buy 123.75 million more shares from the company, worth about $9.7 billion at the top of the range, and banks usually exercise that option when a book is this deep. A $26 billion private placement of nonvoting stock to seven chip and cloud suppliers prices alongside the offering, bringing the combined raise to about $90 billion before any increase.
The top of the range values Anthropic at about $1 trillion based on shares outstanding after the offering and roughly $1.4 trillion counting every option, restricted unit and reserved share. Some investors had hoped for a higher starting point, and a conservative range leaves room for the final price to climb.
Shares for Australian savers
Anthropic also opened a retail offer in Australia on Wednesday, one of a handful of markets outside the U.S., along with Japan, Canada and parts of Europe, where individuals can buy shares directly in the deal. The broker-firm offer, led by Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s CommSec unit with Bell Potter, LGT Wealth, Macquarie, Morgans, Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, Sharesies and Stake, closes at 5 p.m. Sydney time on Nov. 17. Buyers get the same newly issued Class A stock, and Anthropic isn’t seeking a listing on the Australian Securities Exchange.
The offer arrives as Canberra moves to tighten oversight of AI companies, with the government planning mandatory reporting of certain AI incidents and a new safety regulator with power to impose penalties.
Anthropic plans a livestream for investors on Friday featuring Chief Executive Dario Amodei and JPMorgan Chase Chief Executive Jamie Dimon. The company intends to price the offering on Nov. 18 and begin trading on Nasdaq under the symbol ANT on Nov. 19. For a look at the risks buyers are weighing, see our special report on the offering.
