OpenAI is confirmed to be planning the timing of its IPO for next year.
OpenAI Chief Financial Officer Sarah Friar said at an all-hands meeting that "OpenAI will become a public company next year," CNBC reported on the 19th local time.
Friar, the CFO, said, "Anthropic may go public first in September," but added, "That's fine. We just need to run our own race."
She added, "An IPO is not the finish line but a milestone and just another fundraising," and emphasized, "We already raised $122 billion (about 169 trillion won) in March, so we are in a flexible position now."
She also noted that if business growth accelerates, the listing timeline could be moved up.
OpenAI and Anthropic began the listing process by confidentially submitting IPO applications to the securities authorities in June.
The backdrop to OpenAI not rushing its listing includes its corporations value and recent results. OpenAI was valued at $852 billion when it raised investment in March.
Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman was reportedly considering delaying the IPO timing to secure a corporations valuation of more than $1 trillion during the listing process.
However, in the second quarter, OpenAI's revenue was overtaken by Anthropic for the first time ever, flashing a warning sign for its growth. According to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), OpenAI's second-quarter revenue was $6.7 billion (about 9.37 trillion won), up 18% from the previous quarter ($5.7 billion).
However, operating losses including stock-based compensation (SBC) expense widened 32%, from $9.3 billion (about 13 trillion won) in the first quarter to $12.3 billion (about 17.2 trillion won) in the second quarter.
During the same period, Anthropic's revenue more than doubled from the previous quarter to $11.6 billion (about 16.2 trillion won). Anthropic also posted a small adjusted operating profit in the second quarter. However, because Anthropic's operating profit excludes stock-based compensation expense, it is known to be difficult to compare it directly with OpenAI.
WSJ reported that OpenAI's weak results disappointed shareholders who had expected significant progress in catching up with Anthropic.
This year, as OpenAI struggled with a slowdown in ChatGPT's growth, it shifted to targeting the corporations client market and reshuffled its management team.