Anthropic has lowered the figures surrounding its initial public offering. And yet, the projections being discussed would be enough to account for the largest public offering of sale in history. The company that created Claude has set an indicative range of between $70 and $78 per share and plans to place 825 million shares, according to the latest amendment to its prospectus.
At the upper end, the deal would amount to around $64.4 billion. The figure would far exceed the $29.4 billion raised by Saudi Aramco in 2019, including the subsequent expansion of the offering, which still holds the world record to date.
The market had come to price in nearly two trillion
Official conditions cool the expectations that had been circulating during the past few weeks. Some investors valued Anthropic at close to two trillion dollars at the beginning of October, although that reference was never a formal target communicated by the company.
The range presented now would give Anthropic a market valuation of close to $1.02 trillion at the upper end, calculated based on the shares that will remain outstanding. The fully diluted valuation, which includes options, restricted stock, and other potentially convertible securities, would be in the range of 1.3 to 1.4 trillion.
The reduction versus the two trillion initially contemplated by some investors thus ranges between 30% and 50%, depending on the method used. Even with this adjustment, Anthropic would surpass the valuation of $965.0 billion obtained in its most recent private round.
The offering loses shares and cuts its maximum price
The moderation also shows up when comparing the prospectus with preliminary terms that Anthropic sent to banks and later withdrew. That document contemplated close to 867 million shares, a range with a maximum of $80, and an offering of up to $69.3 billion.
The registered version reduces the offering to 825 million shares, limits the maximum price to $78, and cuts the potential volume to $64.4 billion. That is 4.9 billion fewer than in the withdrawn document. Anthropic told the institutions that those initial data were incorrect, so they never became a formal proposal to investors.
Of the actions included in the final offering, 801.35 million will be sold by Anthropic and 23.65 million correspond to current shareholders. The company will not receive the money from this latter part of the placement.
Another 26.000 million contributed by the tech giants
The IPO will be accompanied by a private placement of non-voting shares worth 26.000 million dollars. Google, Nvidia, AMD, Microsoft, Broadcom, Micron and TSMC are among the investors that have pledged to participate.
These shares will have the same price as the securities sold on the stock exchange and their acquisition will be completed immediately after the offering, provided that the conditions set out are met. By adding the IPO and the private placement, the total volume associated with the transaction could exceed 90.000 million dollars, although part of that amount corresponds to securities sold by current shareholders.
The prospectus estimates that Anthropic would obtain net revenues close to 84.600 million with the average price of the band and the private placement. The figure could rise to 93.700 million if the underwriting banks fully exercise their option to sell additional shares.
The cost of the infrastructure pressures the valuation
The review responds in part to the volatility of companies linked to artificial intelligence and to doubts about the cost needed to sustain growth. Anthropic recognizes spending commitments close to 900.000 million dollars, concentrated mainly on computing capacity, cloud services and data centers. About 70.700 million would fall due during the next twelve months.
The latest results also show a moderation in the pace of expansion. Third-quarter revenue amounted to 16.960 million dollars, 47% more than in the previous quarter. The advance had been 144% during the preceding period. The company, however, has reduced its losses and closed October with annualized revenue close to 81.000 million.
Anthropic has begun its investor presentations round and expects to set the final price next week. Its shares will trade on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol "ANT". If it completes the transaction within the announced range, the valuation cut will not prevent the company from signing the largest IPO exit made so far.