Anthropic IPO Draws Orders Several Times the Shares on Offer as Bankers Weigh Pricing Above $78
Orders are piling into Anthropic’s initial public offering. Bloomberg reported that orders have reached several times the 825 million shares on offer, and the book was already covered on the first day of the roadshow on November 10.
CNBC reported that the book was filled on an allocable basis on day one, with institutional demand stronger than SpaceX drew at the same stage of its own process. Anthropic aims to allocate about 20 percent of the offering to retail investors, well above the usual 5 to 10 percent.
With demand running hot, bankers are weighing pricing the deal above the filed range. The Financial Times reported that the valuation could rise above $1.5 trillion. The filed range remains $70 to $78 a share, and no new range has been submitted.
Total proceeds could exceed $100 billion, according to reports. The IPO alone would raise $64.35 billion at the top of the range, and a $26 billion private placement would lift the combined total past $90 billion. A greenshoe option for 123.75 million more shares would add more.
The demand has a foundation in the filing. Anthropic’s annualized run-rate revenue stood at about $81 billion as of October 31, up $10 billion in a single month. Revenue in the third quarter was about $17 billion.
The seven co-founders plan to sell a combined 23.65 million shares in the offering. At the $74 midpoint, that would total about $1.75 billion, or about $250 million each. The founders have pledged to donate 80 percent of their personal equity.
But orders are nonbinding indications of interest. Heavy oversubscription is no guarantee that the stock will rise after trading begins. Klarna and StubHub both drew heavy demand and later traded below their offer prices.
The timetable is unchanged. Pricing is expected on November 18, with trading on Nasdaq expected to begin on November 19 under the ticker ANT. Both dates are reported expectations, not company confirmations.
On Friday, November 13, Chief Executive Dario Amodei is scheduled to appear at a live-streamed investor event with JPMorgan Chase Chief Executive Jamie Dimon. The roadshow continues into next week.
