OpenAI Moves Toward Historic IPO, Confidential Filing Expected as Soon as Friday

Markets Desk — Wed, 20 May 2026 17:57:03 +0000

OpenAI, the company behind the world’s most widely used artificial intelligence chatbot, is on the verge of a landmark moment in tech history. The AI company is preparing to confidentially file a draft of its IPO prospectus as soon as Friday, with Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley leading preparations for a filing expected in the coming days or weeks, according to a report by CNBC.

OpenAI is targeting a public debut sometime in the fall, though the exact timing remains uncertain, according to a person familiar with the plan who asked not to be identified because the information is not yet public, CNBC reported.

The move would mark one of the most consequential stock market debuts in recent memory. OpenAI, which is valued at more than $850 billion by private investors, has raised more than $180 billion from backers and continues to burn through cash at a historic pace.

The company’s growth story is staggering. OpenAI kickstarted the generative AI boom with the launch of ChatGPT in 2022, and the chatbot now supports more than 900 million weekly active users. Revenue has surged in parallel — OpenAI’s CFO Sarah Friar confirmed in January 2026 that annualized revenue had passed $20 billion, up from just $6 billion in 2024.

However, profitability remains a distant goal. The company does not expect to reach profitability until around 2030, with internal projections suggesting losses of $14 billion in 2026 alone. HSBC analysts estimate OpenAI may need over $207 billion in additional funding by 2030 to maintain operations, even accounting for projected revenue growth.

As it prepares for the public stage, OpenAI is also sharpening its enterprise focus. Fidji Simo, OpenAI’s CEO of Applications, recently held an all-hands meeting telling employees the company is “orienting aggressively” toward high-productivity use cases, with a goal of converting its massive user base into high-compute users.

The IPO news arrives amid a crowded moment for mega tech listings. Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which merged with xAI earlier this year, is also set to publicly disclose its IPO prospectus, with its offering expected to bring in a record-breaking sum after being valued at $1.25 trillion in February.

For investors, OpenAI’s IPO represents both extraordinary opportunity and considerable risk — a bet on the company that ignited the AI era, now racing to prove it can sustain it.

ChatGPT IPO | Business Upturn

OpenAI Moves Toward Historic IPO, Confidential Filing Expected as Soon as Friday