According to documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, OpenAI told its investors that its adjusted operating margin improved to negative 109% compared to negative 150% in the previous quarter. However, in absolute terms, the company's situation remains severe: operating losses instead rose to $10.9 billion (about €9.72 billion) from $10.1 billion (about €9.01 billion) the previous quarter, the publication reported on Tuesday.
Losses Grow Despite Margin Improvement
As Kommersant clarifies, citing the same WSJ documents, OpenAI's third-quarter revenue increased by approximately 50% to reach about $10 billion. Meanwhile, the operating loss exceeded revenue by nearly $900 million. Thus, the company presents a contradictory picture: relative efficiency (margin) is gradually improving, but the scale of financial losses continues to expand amid massive spending on infrastructure and computing power.
Anthropic Prepares for Record IPO
The disclosure of OpenAI's finances coincided with investors closely examining the state of affairs in the artificial intelligence sector, including competitor Anthropic, which is preparing to go public. The maker of Claude AI models filed an application with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) with the intention of selling 825 million shares at a price between $70 and $78 each (from €62.44 to €69.58); the securities will trade under the ticker symbol "ANT". The company could be valued at approximately $1.4 trillion (about €1.25 trillion).
The Biggest IPO in History?
According to the filing, seven technology companies, including Google, Nvidia, AMD, and Microsoft, have agreed to purchase $26 billion (about €23.2 billion) worth of non-voting shares at the IPO price as part of a separate private placement; these companies are investors in Anthropic or major suppliers of its computing power. Anthropic is expected to raise up to $100 billion (about €89.2 billion), which would make this offering the largest IPO in history. B. Riley Wealth Management chief market strategist Art Hogan called the listing "just another chapter" in investor anxiety over the cost of deploying AI infrastructure and how to fund it, noting that investors have spent three years striving to be part of three companies: SpaceX, Anthropic, and potentially next year, OpenAI.
Political Background and Volatility
Anthropic's stock market debut comes as Wall Street digests the outcome of the US midterm elections, in which Democrats — who are more wary of AI — won control of both chambers of Congress and promised to slow down the implementation of President Donald Trump's agenda. This has increased volatility in stocks tied to the AI boom, with chipmaker Nvidia taking center stage after its CEO Jensen Huang became embroiled in a espionage scandal. Thus, OpenAI's financial report and Anthropic's upcoming IPO serve as an indicator of how long the market is willing to sustain the spending on artificial intelligence that is fueling the US economy.
