Just two days after a federal jury threw out Elon Musk’s $150 billion lawsuit against OpenAI, the company is preparing to do what many thought impossible just months ago: go public. Reports indicate that OpenAI could confidentially file its IPO prospectus as early as Friday, May 23, 2026, with a target public debut by September of this year.

Quick Summary – OpenAI IPO

This is not just another tech IPO. The company was last valued at 852 billion after a 122 billion private funding round in March — the largest private capital raise in history. A public listing at a $1 trillion valuation would rank OpenAI as the world’s 14th largest company by market capitalization, placing it between Berkshire Hathaway and Eli Lilly.

The drama unfolding on Wall Street extends well beyond OpenAI’s own listing. A tripartite IPO race is now in full swing: Elon Musk’s SpaceX aims to list on Nasdaq as early as June 12, Anthropic is reportedly targeting a fall debut at a $900 billion valuation, and OpenAI’s Sam Altman is pushing for a September listing. Whoever goes first sets the valuation benchmark for everyone else.

This article breaks down why OpenAI is rushing to go public now, what the dismissed Musk lawsuit means for the offering, how the numbers stack up against rivals, and why this IPO could reshape the entire AI investment landscape.

The Filing – What We Know So Far

Key highlights:

• Timeline: OpenAI could confidentially file IPO documents as early as Friday, May 23, with CEO Sam Altman targeting a September 2026 public debut. Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are leading the preparations.
• Valuation: The company was last valued at 852 billion after closing a 122 billion private funding round in March — the largest private capital raise ever recorded. Industry observers have speculated that a public offering could push OpenAI’s valuation past the $1 trillion threshold.
• Fundraising target: Reports suggest OpenAI aims to raise approximately $60 billion in its IPO.
• Competitors in queue: SpaceX is targeting a Nasdaq listing on June 12, 2026, with up to 75 billion in gross proceeds that would shatter every IPO record on file. Anthropic is separately preparing for its own IPO, which is estimated to have a valuation of 900 billion.

The IPO paperwork is still confidential. An OpenAI spokesperson told The Wall Street Journal: “As part of normal governance, we regularly evaluate a range of strategic options. Our focus remains on execution.”

Why Now? The Strategic Urgency Behind OpenAI’s IPO Push

Three forces are converging to accelerate OpenAI’s timeline.

2.1 The Legal Overhang Is Gone

On May 19, a federal jury in Oakland unanimously dismissed Elon Musk’s $150 billion lawsuit against OpenAI after less than two hours of deliberation. The jury found that Musk had filed his lawsuit in 2024 despite being aware of the alleged misconduct as far back as 2017 and 2019, meaning the statute of limitations had long expired.

Had Musk prevailed, he was seeking to force the company to revert to its non-profit structure — a move that would have derailed its planned IPO and unwound ties to major investors including Microsoft, Amazon and SoftBank. The verdict eliminates a substantial legal uncertainty that had shadowed the company’s future plans.

While Musk has indicated his intention to pursue an appeal, legal experts note that the jury’s clear factual finding (that Musk knew about the for-profit transition years ago) is extremely difficult to overturn. For the purposes of the IPO timeline, the immediate threat has been neutralized.

2.2 The Competitive Race: SpaceX Is Already at the Gate

SpaceX moved first. The company quietly submitted a confidential S-1 to the SEC on April 1, 2026, under the internal codename “Project Apex.” Its public prospectus was widely expected to drop on May 20 — the same day OpenAI’s IPO news broke. SpaceX is targeting a Nasdaq listing under the ticker “SPCX” on June 12, 2026, with up to 80 billion in gross proceeds at a valuation of roughly 1.75 trillion.

Wedbush Securities technology analyst Dan Ives has emphasized that being first to the public market matters enormously: “The first to meet investors on a roadshow gains a distinct advantage.”

OpenAI’s IPO filing, coming just after SpaceX’s announcement, is a direct competitive response. Both companies are racing to define the first US benchmark for pure‑play AI valuation. The company that goes first writes the pricing rules for everything that follows — including Anthropic.

2.3 The Valuation Window May Not Stay Open Forever

Private market valuations for AI companies have reached historic highs. OpenAI is currently valued at 852 billion; Anthropic is reportedly seeking a 900 billion valuation. But there is no guarantee these multiples will hold. Rising interest rates, regulatory scrutiny, or a shift in investor sentiment could compress valuations. OpenAI may want to lock in a public market valuation while the window is still wide open.

Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, which are handling both the OpenAI and SpaceX offerings, have an obvious incentive to move quickly and capture the unprecedented fee concentration.

The Numbers – Revenue, Users, and the Path to Profitability

OpenAI’s financial picture is a story of extraordinary growth shadowed by staggering losses.

3.1 Revenue Growth

CFO Sarah Friar announced in January that OpenAI had achieved an annualized revenue run rate of 20 billion during 2025—up from 6 billion in 2024. More recent estimates suggest the company’s annualized revenue has reached approximately $300 billion, driven largely by enterprise adoption and AI coding tools. Enterprise revenue now accounts for more than 40% of the total. The company’s API processes over 150 billion tokens per minute.

3.2 User Scale

As of early 2026, OpenAI serves 700 million weekly active users. ChatGPT’s weekly active users have surpassed 900 million, with over 50 million paid subscribers. The service remains the dominant consumer AI platform by a wide margin.

3.3 Profitability Challenge

Rapid revenue growth has not translated into profitability. OpenAI is projected to report a full-year 2026 loss of approximately 140 billion, with cash burn expected to widen further. The company does not anticipate achieving positive cash flow until 2030 at the earliest. Gross margin stands at only about 3,384 billion in 2025 and is expected to rise to $141 billion in 2026.

3.4 Massive Infrastructure Commitments

The company has pledged 1.4 trillion over seven to eighty years toward developing data center infrastructure. An additional 600 billion commitment covers semiconductor acquisition and data center construction.

CFO Sarah Friar reportedly cautioned internal teams that slower-than-expected revenue expansion could jeopardize the company’s capacity to fulfill these massive infrastructure obligations. This tension — between growth ambitions and financial reality — is the central question investors will face.

The Three‑Way Race – OpenAI, SpaceX, and Anthropic

The IPO market has not seen anything like this. Three trillion‑dollar AI and space companies are racing to go public within months of each other.

Whoever goes first does not just raise capital — they set the ceiling, or perhaps the floor, for the AI era’s first reckoning with public markets. The first IPO will establish the valuation multiples, pricing mechanics, and investor appetite that will define how the rest are judged.

Goldman Sachs finds itself in the unusual position of managing both the OpenAI and SpaceX offerings — a fee concentration with no modern precedent in equity capital markets history.

What the IPO Means for the AI Industry

5.1 A Valuation Anchor for the Entire Sector

OpenAI’s IPO will set the first public market benchmark for a pure‑play AI company at scale. Every other AI startup — from Anthropic to Mistral to Cohere — will be valued against this anchor. If the market embraces OpenAI at a $1 trillion valuation, the entire sector benefits. If the IPO disappoints, it could trigger a broader AI valuation reset.

5.2 Microsoft’s Massive Windfall

Microsoft holds an estimated 27% stake in OpenAI’s for-profit arm, a stake valued at roughly 135 billion at the current private valuation. A public listing at $1 trillion would add over $150 billion in non‑operating income to Microsoft’s balance sheet—the largest single mark‑to‑market gain in corporate history.

5.3 The Profitability Test

Investors have tolerated enormous losses at AI companies because the growth has been extraordinary. OpenAI’s IPO will be the first major test of whether the public market shares that tolerance. The company’s projected $140 billion loss for 2026 and lack of profitability until 2030 will be scrutinized as never before.

Deutsche Bank’s research report issues a clear warning, noting that investor understanding of the long‑term business models and unit economics of AI firms remains limited. The report frames this IPO as a “crucial litmus test” for whether the AI boom can deliver long‑term economic value.

5.4 The New Battlefield

The rivalry between Sam Altman and Elon Musk has moved from the courtroom to the boardroom. After nearly two years of legal warfare, both founders are now racing to prove which vision — OpenAI’s AI‑first model or SpaceX’s multi‑planetary AI infrastructure — is worth more to public investors. Wall Street, not the jury box, will deliver the final verdict.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Q1: When will OpenAI actually go public?
A: The target is September 2026, but the confidential filing as early as Friday, May 23, is the first formal step. The timeline could shift depending on market conditions and regulatory review.

Q2: Did OpenAI win the Musk lawsuit?
A: Yes. A federal jury dismissed Musk’s $150 billion lawsuit on May 19, finding that Musk waited too long to file it. The judge formally dismissed all claims.

Q3: Will Musk’s appeal stop the IPO?
A: Unlikely. Appeals take years. The IPO is scheduled for September 2026, and the immediate legal obstacle has been removed. However, the appeal remains a long‑term risk.

Q4: How does OpenAI’s financial picture compare to Anthropic’s?
A: Anthropic has achieved a historic overtake in revenue, with annualized revenue surpassing OpenAI’s in April 2026. Anthropic is also expected to achieve quarterly profitability in Q2 2026 — the first major AI model company to do so.

Q5: What happens if the IPO is delayed?
A: SpaceX is already set to list on June 12. If OpenAI delays, Anthropic could also leapfrog it. Altman is pushing for a September window specifically to avoid being the third company to market.

Q6: Is OpenAI profitable?
A: No. OpenAI is projected to lose approximately $140 billion in 2026 and does not expect positive cash flow until 2030 at the earliest.

Q7: How does this connect to your earlier article on the Musk vs. Altman trial?
A: Directly. The dismissed lawsuit was the final legal obstacle to the IPO. Our previous article explained why the jury threw out Musk’s case. Now we explain what happens next.

Q8: Will retail investors be able to buy OpenAI shares?
A: OpenAI has confirmed that retail investors will have access to the IPO, though institutional investors will receive the largest allocations.

Conclusion – The Next Chapter Begins

The OpenAI IPO is not just a financial event. It is the moment when the AI industry’s most important private company submits itself to public scrutiny. The legal threat from Elon Musk is gone — for now. The competitive threat from SpaceX and Anthropic is immediate. And the financial reality of massive losses, even larger infrastructure commitments, and uncertain profitability will be tested in the harshest arena: the public market.

The company that once promised to build safe artificial general intelligence for the benefit of humanity is now racing to become the most valuable AI company on Wall Street. From the courtroom to the stock exchange, the journey of OpenAI has entered its most consequential chapter yet.

References & Further Reading

• The Wall Street Journal – “OpenAI Prepares to File for IPO” (May 20, 2026)
• Reuters – “OpenAI wins Musk lawsuit, clears path for IPO” (May 19, 2026)
• CNBC – “SpaceX, OpenAI, Anthropic race to public markets” (May 21, 2026)
• Bloomberg – “OpenAI targets September debut at $1T valuation” (May 21, 2026)
• Deutsche Bank Research – “AI IPO Litmus Test: What Investors Need to Know” (May 2026)
• Wedbush Securities – Dan Ives analysis on AI IPO race
• Morgan Stanley – OpenAI IPO preparations (internal sources)

The post OpenAI IPO 2026: Why ChatGPT’s Parent Is Going Public Now (And What It Means) appeared first on Explain This Tech.