OpenAI Eyes September IPO After Legal Win Over Musk

OpenAI is moving toward a public stock offering that could land as early as September, according to insiders who spoke with The New York Times. The ChatGPT developer has been quietly preparing paperwork and holding preliminary talks with Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, watching market conditions to pick the right moment to file.

The company just cleared a major legal hurdle. A federal judge and jury this week dismissed Elon Musk’s lawsuit that threatened to dismantle OpenAI’s for-profit structure. That decision removes a key uncertainty for potential investors.

OpenAI’s official response was characteristically vague: “As part of normal governance, we regularly evaluate a range of strategic options. Our focus remains on execution.”

At a $730 billion valuation from its latest funding round, OpenAI would enter a market already crowded with AI hopefuls. Rivals SpaceX—which now owns xAI—and Anthropic are both preparing their own public offerings, with SpaceX potentially going public next month.

But the company’s finances raise questions. OpenAI posted a $5 billion loss in 2024 on $3.7 billion in revenue. Revenue has climbed since, but costs have ballooned faster. CEO Sam Altman has pledged $600 billion in computing infrastructure spending by 2030. Analysts project the company could lose $44 billion by 2028, with profitability not expected until 2029 or 2030.

Much of that $730 billion valuation rests on investments from NVIDIA and Microsoft—two companies that also count OpenAI as a major customer and exclusive cloud partner, respectively. Critics point to this circular arrangement as a potential red flag for public market investors.