When will OpenAI go public?
Not in 2026. OpenAI did file a confidential S-1 with the SEC on June 8, 2026. But in September, CEO Sam Altman ruled out an IPO this year. CFO Sarah Friar is targeting 2027.
That means you can't buy OpenAI stock yet, and there is no separate ChatGPT stock either.
The valuation is still worth watching. OpenAI was last valued at $852 billion. For its next funding round, Bloomberg reports it is seeking about $1.4 trillion.
In this article, I'll walk you through the OpenAI IPO, its valuation, and the stock. You'll also see how to buy in indirectly or get ready before the listing. Here's the short version:
- OpenAI filed a confidential S-1 with the SEC on June 8, 2026. CEO Sam Altman has ruled out an IPO this year, and CFO Sarah Friar is targeting 2027
- Its last valuation is $852 billion (March 2026). OpenAI is reportedly seeking at least $30 billion at about $1.4 trillion before the new money, according to Bloomberg
- Annualized revenue was around $24 billion in March 2026; Bloomberg reported it topped $40 billion by August, and OpenAI told investors it was approaching $50 billion at the end of September, according to the Financial Times, the fastest revenue growth in tech history
- Its structure as a Public Benefit Corporation under a nonprofit parent makes the IPO more complicated than for a normal company
1. The OpenAI IPO at a glance
The key facts of the planned offering:
The key difference from a normal IPO lies in the structure. OpenAI is organized today as a Public Benefit Corporation that is controlled by a nonprofit foundation. This setup makes the offering legally far more complex than a classic company going public. More on that further down.
2. The road to the IPO
OpenAI was founded in 2015 as a non-profit with the goal of making artificial intelligence benefit all of humanity. In ten years, that non-profit has become one of the most valuable private tech companies in the world. The timeline below shows the key stations up to the S-1:
The real accelerator was the funding round in March 2026. With $122 billion in fresh capital and a valuation of $852 billion, going public became the obvious next step. Less than ten weeks later came the confidential S-1 on June 8, 2026.
3. Valuation: $852 billion and how it got there
Few private technology companies have ever posted a comparable valuation trajectory, from $1 billion in 2019 to $852 billion in March 2026. The chart below shows the rise across the individual funding rounds:
The jumps are enormous, from $14 billion in 2021 to $500 billion by October 2025. The March 2026 round was announced at a pre-money valuation of $730 billion and finalized at $852 billion post-money. Measured against annualized revenue of around $24 billion, that's a multiple that prices in a lot of future growth.
Since September 2026, Bloomberg reports OpenAI has been negotiating another round of at least $30 billion at a valuation of about $1.4 trillion before the new money, after earlier talk of about $1.2 trillion. No decision has been made.
You can find more numbers in my article on OpenAI statistics.
4. Funding & investors
In total, OpenAI has raised around $190 billion in funding. The biggest backers are SoftBank, Amazon, Nvidia and Microsoft. The chart below shows the most important investors by amount. The label says whether the money is already invested or only committed:
SoftBank is the biggest backer with $64.6 billion invested cumulatively (as of October 1, 2026). In the March 2026 round, Amazon committed $50 billion and Nvidia $30 billion, while Microsoft has been on board with $13 billion since 2019.
At $122 billion, this round is the largest single funding round in the history of private companies. What stands out is how tightly OpenAI is now intertwined with its compute partners. Nvidia supplies the chips, Amazon and Microsoft the cloud infrastructure.
5. Revenue & business model
OpenAI makes its money from three pillars: ChatGPT subscriptions for consumers, the API for developers and enterprise contracts with companies. Annualized revenue has grown like nothing in tech history, from around $0.3 billion at the end of 2022 to around $24 billion run-rate in March 2026:
The curve speaks for itself. Annualized revenue grew from around $0.3 billion at the end of 2022 to about $24 billion by March 2026. The pace has kept climbing since. Bloomberg reported the rate topped $40 billion by August 2026, more than double the end of 2025.
At the end of September, OpenAI told investors it was approaching $50 billion, according to the Financial Times (via TechCrunch). Figures near $70 billion that circulated earlier arose because investors compared OpenAI with Anthropic. Anthropic counts sales made through cloud partners, OpenAI does not.
One detail matters for investors. There is no separate ChatGPT stock. Anyone who wants to bet on ChatGPT's growth gets that exposure only through OpenAI stock after the IPO.
And despite the growth, OpenAI is not yet sustainably profitable, as its infrastructure and staffing costs are enormous.
6. The numbers behind the IPO: a $38.5B loss
On June 16, 2026, OpenAI's audited 2025 figures became public. On revenue of $13.07 billion, it posted an operating loss of $20.9 billion. The reported net loss of $38.5 billion, however, is inflated by a one-time, non-cash conversion effect of $41.5 billion from the for-profit restructuring.
The chart sets revenue, operating loss and net loss for 2024 and 2025 side by side. Revenue grew faster than the operating loss, while the net loss jumps because of the conversion effect.
gradually.aiStripped of one-off items, the actual cash loss was around $8 billion. The biggest cost block was research and development at $19.18 billion. For investors that means the huge net loss is largely an accounting effect, while the operating hole is real but far smaller.
7. The $1.4 trillion compute deals
OpenAI has signed compute contracts worth around $1.4 trillion, led by Broadcom, Oracle, and Microsoft, with Amazon AWS, Nvidia, AMD, and CoreWeave rounding out the list. The chart below breaks down each partner's reported commitment.
That exceeds today's revenue by more than fiftyfold and is the real reason for OpenAI's hunger for capital and its planned IPO.
8. Who owns OpenAI?
After the conversion into a Public Benefit Corporation in October 2025, ownership splits between employees and investors, Microsoft, and the nonprofit OpenAI Foundation, with the exact breakdown in the chart below.
Microsoft diluted its stake from a previous 32.5% to 27%, but keeps the IP rights to the frontier models through 2032. For future shareholders, that is the decisive point. The nonprofit foundation remains the largest controlling block with just over a quarter.
9. When will OpenAI go public?
OpenAI took the first formal step with the confidential S-1 on June 8, 2026. "Confidential" means the filing initially goes only to the SEC, not the public.
Normally the public version of the S-1 follows around 60 to 90 days later, which in this case would have been roughly late July or August. By late September 2026 it still had not appeared, because OpenAI has since reprioritized the process.
A public listing this year is now off the table. CEO Sam Altman said on September 12, 2026 that an IPO in 2026 was not on the cards given rising safety concerns in the industry. CFO Sarah Friar had already told associates internally that 2027 was the target.
The plans are still led by Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley as the lead banks, though no fixed date for 2027 has been set.
One peculiarity could still affect the further timeline. OpenAI is organized as a Public Benefit Corporation formally controlled by a nonprofit foundation. This structure is unusual for an IPO and raises questions, such as how much say new shareholders actually get and how the nonprofit parent keeps control. Such constructions are complex and can lengthen the process.
In parallel, OpenAI has been negotiating a new private funding round since September 2026. Bloomberg reports at least $30 billion at a target valuation of about $1.4 trillion before the new money, after earlier talk of about $1.2 trillion. No decision has been made here either, and the talks are running alongside the IPO preparations.
10. Buying OpenAI stock: routes before the IPO
The short answer first: you cannot buy OpenAI stock the normal way right now. As long as the company is private, there is no freely tradable stock and no separate ChatGPT stock either. But there are a few ways to prepare or get indirect exposure:
By far the simplest route, and the sensible one for most people, is to simply wait for the IPO. Once the stock is listed, you buy it through any broker that offers US equities.
OpenAI has not announced a WKN or ISIN for its shares. An IPO is not required for an ISIN, since most ANNA member agencies also cover unlisted securities. Steer clear of shady offers that try to sell you "OpenAI shares" today.
11. SpaceX, Anthropic and OpenAI: the three big IPOs compared
OpenAI is not the only mega-IPO this year. With SpaceX and Anthropic, two more of the most valuable tech and AI companies are heading for, or already past, the public markets.
SpaceX trades on the stock market. OpenAI's valuation comes from its last private funding round, as reported by CNBC and Bloomberg, and Anthropic's from its Series H announcement. Here is how OpenAI ranks:
SpaceX is by far the largest of the three and the only one already listed. OpenAI and Anthropic sat close together on their last confirmed rounds, $852 billion and $965 billion, and both filed their IPO paperwork confidentially in early June.
Both are now in talks for markedly higher valuations for their next phase, Anthropic for the IPO itself, OpenAI for another private round. For details on the other two, see my articles on the SpaceX IPO and the Anthropic IPO.
12. Risks for investors
As exciting as the OpenAI IPO is, the stock will be no sure thing. These points are worth knowing:
- Extreme valuation: $852 billion against around $24 billion in revenue leaves little room for disappointment. A lot of future growth is already priced in.
- Heavy cash burn: Despite record revenue, OpenAI is not yet sustainably profitable. Its spending on compute and staff is huge.
- Governance and structure: The Public Benefit Corporation under a nonprofit parent is unfamiliar to shareholders and limits their say.
- Strong competition: Anthropic has overtaken OpenAI on valuation, and Google is pushing hard into the market with Gemini.
- Dependence on partners: OpenAI relies heavily on Microsoft, Nvidia and Amazon for capital and compute. That is a concentration risk.
- IPO timing: A listing this year is ruled out, and CFO Friar is targeting 2027. The valuation can still move in either direction before then.
My take: the OpenAI IPO will be one of the largest in history, and the company sits at the center of the AI revolution. But the valuation assumes that OpenAI keeps its lead and eventually turns profitable. Anyone getting in should know the risks and only invest money they can afford to lose. This is not investment advice, just context.
