WSJ: Anthropic targets a Thursday or Friday stock debut

Anthropic is sticking with plans to list later this month despite the recent swings in AI-linked stocks, The Wall Street Journal reported on November 9. The company has meetings with key investors lined up this week and is aiming for its shares to start trading on Thursday or Friday next week, November 19 or 20. If you are tracking the date, treat it as a target from people familiar with the matter rather than a scheduled listing.

The filing itself is on record. Anthropic made its S-1 public with the SEC on October 26, after a confidential draft submitted on June 1. The price is still unsettled. Investors cited by CNBC now see a valuation of $1 trillion to $1.5 trillion, below the $2 trillion discussed in recent months.

The market volatility the Journal mentions has already been pulling that range down. Earlier this month the Journal reported that major investors doubted Anthropic could reach even $1.5 trillion after a deep selloff, and Bloomberg reported prospective buyers talking about a valuation as low as $1.1 trillion. That low end is about $135 billion above the $965 billion post-money valuation of the Series H round Anthropic closed on May 28, its last private price.

Concern about the size of the deal reaches beyond Anthropic’s own price. Business Insider reports that the IPO is feeding fears about whether the market can absorb a flood of new stock issuance, and deepening worries about market concentration.