After months of speculation, it’s getting real: OpenAI is preparing for an IPO and could file its confidential S-1 with the SEC as early as this week. The target is a listing in fall 2026.
What We Know
OpenAI is working with Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley on the filing. The last funding round in March 2026 valued the company at $852 billion. For the IPO, valuations between $852 billion and $1 trillion are being discussed.
Why Now?
Two things cleared the path.
First, OpenAI won the Musk lawsuit on May 18. A jury in Oakland unanimously dismissed all of Elon Musk’s claims — he had waited too long to bring them. The verdict removes a significant legal risk that could have complicated an IPO.
Second, OpenAI’s business is showing traction. Monthly run rate is above $2 billion, driven primarily by enterprise customers. ChatGPT has over 500 million active users. New revenue streams like the Ads Manager and ChatGPT for Personal Finance add to the picture.
The Challenges
OpenAI also has issues that an S-1 will make transparent. The company has repeatedly missed its revenue targets, as was reported in April. CFO Sarah Friar wanted to push the IPO to 2027 — CEO Sam Altman is pressing for 2026.
Then there’s the profitability question. While competitor Anthropic just reported its first quarterly profit, OpenAI continues to burn billions. The massive compute costs for GPT-5.5 and infrastructure deals with Microsoft and Amazon weigh on the balance sheet.
What It Means
An OpenAI IPO would be the biggest tech listing in years. For the AI industry as a whole, it would be a litmus test: are investors willing to pay billion-dollar valuations for companies that don’t yet make a profit — but want to define the future of technology?
The next few weeks will show whether the S-1 actually drops. And what’s in it.
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