TLDR
- OpenAI could confidentially file for an IPO as soon as Friday, May 23, targeting a September debut
- Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are leading the filing preparations
- The company was last valued at $852 billion after closing a $122 billion private funding round in March
- A federal jury dismissed Elon Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAI earlier this week, clearing a legal obstacle
- OpenAI has reportedly missed internal revenue and user growth targets, raising questions about its finances
OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, is preparing to file confidentially for an initial public offering as soon as this Friday, according to The Wall Street Journal.
🚨HUGE: OpenAI confirms it is preparing to file for IPO in the coming weeks, per Reuters.
This comes after:
1. $1.5B private equity joint venture talks with Vista/Thrive
2. Briefing the Feds and Five Eyes on new cyber products
3. CFO confirming retail investors will get IPO… pic.twitter.com/QLHqLAPCgF— Coin Bureau (@coinbureau) May 21, 2026
The company is working with Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley on the filing. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman wants the company ready to list on public markets as early as September 2026.
OpenAI was last valued at $852 billion after closing a $122 billion private funding round in March 2026, the largest private funding round in history. Prior reports have suggested the company could target a $1 trillion valuation in a public offering.
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.”
Legal Hurdle Cleared Before Filing
The IPO move comes days after OpenAI won a court battle against one of its co-founders. A federal jury ruled against Elon Musk earlier this week, dismissing his lawsuit on the grounds that he waited too long to file it.
Musk had sued OpenAI for $150 billion. He alleged the company improperly shifted from a nonprofit to a for-profit structure after he donated $38 million to the organization between 2015 and 2017.
The jury’s decision removes a major legal cloud that had been hanging over the company. Musk has said he plans to appeal.
Financial Picture Has Some Weak Spots
OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar said in January that the company reached an annualized revenue run rate of $20 billion in 2025, up from $6 billion in 2024.
Despite that growth, the company has reportedly missed internal targets for both revenue and user growth. Friar warned colleagues that slow revenue growth could limit the company’s ability to meet its data center commitments.
OpenAI has committed $1.4 trillion over the next seven to eight years to build out data center infrastructure. It also plans to spend $600 billion over the next five years on semiconductors and data centers.
The company has 700 million active weekly users as of early 2026.
OpenAI’s path to profitability is still unclear. Like other large AI companies going public, it is expected to trade at a high valuation multiple.
Competition Is Heating Up
Rival Anthropic disclosed $30 billion in annualized revenue in April 2026 and is now seeking a new funding round that could value it at $900 billion, which would potentially put it above OpenAI’s last private valuation.
SpaceX is also preparing its own IPO filing. Goldman Sachs, the same bank working with OpenAI, is also leading that deal.
IPO activity across the tech sector has been picking up. AI semiconductor company Cerebras recently went public and rose sharply after its debut.
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