Space, AI, and the biggest IPOs ever |
Space, AI, and the biggest IPOs ever
SpaceX, OpenAI, and Anthropic are preparing massive IPOs that could total almost $3 trillion in combined value
Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
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Saudi Aramco's 2019 IPO is the largest in history, bringing in over $25 billion. In a few months it will be the third largest, and the year will not be over.
SpaceX is expected to go public in June, raising somewhere between $40 billion and $80 billion at a valuation that could reach $1.75 trillion. OpenAI, currently valued at $852 billion, is targeting a listing that could push that figure past $1 trillion. Anthropic, valued at $380 billion in its most recent funding round, could fetch more than $60 billion in an IPO that some analysts project could value the company at over $640 billion.
Together, three companies are preparing to enter public markets in a single year with around $3 trillion in combined market capitalization.
The records are about to fall, and so are some of the rules. The people responsible for those rules seem to agree that is the right call.
"They're exceptional in every regard," said Tomasz Tunguz, a venture capitalist at Theory Ventures who has written about the financial mechanics of the listings. "And we need to make exceptions for them."
Rules written for a different world
When a company goes public, it does not automatically land in the indexes that most........