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AI: Jobs, Power & Money
21SEP

OpenAI holds $1tn, slips IPO to 2027

2 min read
16:45UTC

OpenAI is leaning towards delaying its IPO to 2027 rather than cut its roughly $1tn valuation, according to reporting relayed by Bloomberg and Reuters.

← Back to AI closes the hiring door, not the exitJump to analysis ↓
EconomicDeveloping
Key takeaway

OpenAI would rather wait two years than list at a discount, per reporting it has not confirmed.

OpenAI is now leaning towards delaying its initial public offering (IPO) to 2027, according to reporting by The New York Times relayed by Bloomberg and Reuters on 25 June. Advisers gave chief executive Sam Altman two options: wait for the roughly $1 trillion valuation, or cut it to list sooner in 2026. Altman rejected the discount, which means the price the company wants outranks the timetable investors expected.⁠1

He cited recent tech-stock volatility and the rocky market debut of SpaceX, which cooled retail-investor appetite. OpenAI has kept the S-1 registration confidential, with no audited financials public. The 9 June filing had targeted a September listing above one trillion dollars, so the valuation holds while the timetable slips into 2027.

Deep Analysis

In plain English

OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, had been expected to sell shares to the public, known as an IPO, as early as September 2026, at a value of more than $1 trillion. According to reporting from Bloomberg and Reuters on 25 June, OpenAI's leadership, including chief executive Sam Altman, is now leaning toward waiting until 2027 instead. Why wait? Going public means being valued by ordinary investors buying and selling shares every day, and that public price can turn out lower than the private value investors have agreed to pay so far. SpaceX's own 2026 stock market debut was rocky, which reportedly made OpenAI's leadership more cautious about testing its own high valuation in public markets right now.

Deep Analysis
Root Causes

OpenAI's reported operating losses of roughly $14bn against about $2bn in monthly revenue, disclosed in its 9 June confidential filing, mean any IPO pricing conversation is really a bet on when the company reaches operating leverage, not on current earnings; delaying to 2027 buys another eighteen months for the revenue run-rate to catch up with the valuation math underwriters would need to defend publicly.

The rocky SpaceX debut removed the market-conditions argument for rushing a 2026 listing at a discount, since the marginal benefit of listing earlier, faster liquidity for early investors and staff, no longer clearly outweighs the marginal cost of a valuation reset that becomes public and permanent.

What could happen next?
  • Meaning

    OpenAI choosing to delay rather than discount its listing signals private capital is currently pricing frontier AI more generously than public markets are likely to, at least until revenue growth catches up with the roughly $14bn annual operating loss reported in its confidential filing (ID:4156).

    Short term · Reported
  • Risk

    Waiting until 2027 exposes OpenAI to whatever broader market and AI-sentiment conditions exist then, which could be worse rather than better than 2026, as SpaceX's own rocky debut already demonstrates within the same asset class.

    Medium term · Suggested
  • Consequence

    A longer runway as a private company keeps OpenAI's detailed financials out of standard quarterly public disclosure, meaning independent scrutiny of its revenue and loss trajectory continues to depend on leaked reporting rather than filed accounts.

    Immediate · Reported
Sources:Bloomberg
Mentions:OpenAI →Sam Altman →SpaceX →New York Times →ChatGPT →Bloomberg →Reuters →Stargate →Abu Dhabi →Florida →New York State →
First Reported In

Update #15 · Oracle names AI in its own annual report

Bloomberg· 1 Jul 2026
Read original →
Causes and effects
This Event
OpenAI holds $1tn, slips IPO to 2027
The delay is press reporting attributed to The New York Times, not an OpenAI statement, so the company's timetable could still change.
Led to
OpenAI heads to market losing money
The reported 2027 delay updates OpenAI's 9 June S-1 filing, which had targeted a September listing.
Occurred 9 Jun 2026
Read story →
OpenAI offers US a 5% stake, $42.6bn
OpenAI's lean toward delaying its IPO to 2027 sets up the equity-stake pitch as an alternative to public markets.
Occurred 2 Jul 2026
Read story →
Different Perspectives
Korea's four largest banks, as reported by News1
Korea's four largest banks, as reported by News1
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High Court of Justice of Madrid
High Court of Justice of Madrid
The court's employment chamber ruled in judgment 864/2026, dated 8 October and made public in early November, that introducing AI is not on its own a ground for dismissal. Employers must prove AI's effect through the four causes the Workers' Statute already lists.
Singapore Ministry of Manpower
Singapore Ministry of Manpower
The Singapore Ministry of Manpower put third-quarter retrenchments at 4,800, concentrated in information and communications, financial services and manufacturing, with business reorganisation the main driver. Its release does not mention AI.
Challenger, Gray & Christmas
Challenger, Gray & Christmas
Challenger reported on 5 November that market and economic conditions overtook AI as the leading stated reason for 2026's US job cuts, at 130,531 against 121,401. AI was cited for 1,265 cuts in October, its lowest month of the year.
Office for Budget Responsibility
Office for Budget Responsibility
The OBR's 28 October outlook showed output per worker in information and communication growing 7.6% a year, yet kept AI's boost to UK productivity at 0.2 percentage points a year. It does not attribute the faster growth to AI.
Central Bank of Ireland
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Governor Gabriel Makhlouf said on 2 November that AI investment has supported Irish activity and flagged the debt financing behind it as a financial-stability risk. On jobs, he named skills bottlenecks and mismatches, not job losses.

Written with AI from Lowdown's published reporting. Not individually reviewed by an editor. Editorial standards.