OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, is preparing to file confidential IPO paperwork with regulators as soon as this week, according to the Wall Street Journal — in what could become the largest stock market listing in American history and a defining moment for the artificial intelligence industry.
The ChatGPT maker is working with bankers at Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley on a draft IPO prospectus that it plans to file confidentially with regulators soon, possibly as early as Friday. OpenAI is targeting a public debut as early as September, and is racing against rival Anthropic to become the first major startup of the generative AI boom to go public.
Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley are in discussions about advising the offering, with CFO Sarah Friar having told associates the company is targeting a regulatory filing in the second half of 2026, with a potential listing in 2027. Friar has confirmed the company will reserve a portion of its IPO shares for retail investors, calling it “good hygiene” for a company of its size to act like a public company.
The numbers involved are staggering. In March 2026, OpenAI closed the largest private fundraising round in Silicon Valley history, raising $122 billion at an $852 billion post-money valuation, with anchor commitments from Amazon ($50 billion), Nvidia ($30 billion) and SoftBank ($30 billion). The company crossed $25 billion in annualised revenue in February 2026, up from just $6 billion at the end of 2024, driven by ChatGPT subscriptions and enterprise adoption — a growth rate that has no precedent among software companies at this scale. If priced at its current valuation, the listing would be the largest in US history.
However, the path to market is not without significant obstacles. OpenAI generated $13.1 billion in revenue in 2025 but spent approximately $22 billion to do it. Annual cash burn is projected to reach $57 billion by 2027, and the company does not expect to reach breakeven until 2030. The Wall Street Journal noted that some internal targets for revenue and user growth have been missed in recent months, and sources within the company say discussions over timing are ongoing. Friar reportedly warned colleagues in late April that the company may not be ready for a 2026 listing if compute spending continues to outpace revenue.
The IPO push comes shortly after OpenAI won a significant legal battle against co-founder Elon Musk, who had sought to block the company’s conversion from a non-profit to a for-profit structure — a structural change considered a prerequisite for any public listing. Musk is expected to appeal the ruling.
Competition in the AI sector is also intensifying on multiple fronts. Anthropic — the company behind the Claude AI model — is widely seen as OpenAI’s most direct rival and has been gaining ground rapidly. Google, Meta and Microsoft are all pressing ahead with their own AI tools and infrastructure investments at considerable scale, raising questions about how sustainable OpenAI’s current market position will prove over time.
