OpenAI has confidentially filed for an initial public offering on the US stock market, according to The Guardian, marking a significant milestone for the company behind ChatGPT as it moves toward becoming publicly traded.
A confidential filing — a standard legal route that lets companies submit paperwork to regulators before committing to a public listing — means OpenAI can gauge investor appetite without immediately disclosing sensitive financial details. The company can still choose to delay or abandon the IPO after this stage.
The news arrives alongside complications in OpenAI's financial relationships. According to simplywall.st, investors are reassessing SoftBank Group's exposure to OpenAI following what the outlet describes as a loan setback, raising fresh questions about valuation and funding risks tied to the AI firm.
Despite the uncertainty, at least one prominent voice is bullish. Kevin O'Leary, the investor known from Shark Tank, told Yahoo Finance that trying to pick between the IPOs of OpenAI, Anthropic, and SpaceX is a mistake — his advice: "Buy them all."
The comparison to Anthropic and SpaceX underscores a broader moment: a cluster of high-profile, privately held technology companies are all eyeing public markets at roughly the same time, giving ordinary investors potential access to some of the most closely watched names in AI and aerospace.
For everyday investors, OpenAI going public would mean a chance to own a piece of the company most responsible for bringing generative AI into the mainstream — a sector that has reshaped industries from software to media in just a few years.