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OpenAI holds $1tn, slips IPO to 2027

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

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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

Source Landscape

This story draws on centre-left-leaning sources from United States

United States

Primary parallel: WeWork's attempted 2019 IPO forced public disclosure that collapsed its private $47bn valuation to under $10bn within weeks, once outside investors could question the same business model private backers had priced generously; OpenAI's leadership appears to be avoiding exactly that test by staying private into 2027.

Counter-parallel: SpaceX did complete its 2026 listing rather than delay, and its rocky market debut, cited as a factor cooling retail appetite for OpenAI's own listing, shows the opposite risk: waiting does not guarantee a friendlier market, and OpenAI's 2027 window could arrive into worse sentiment than 2026 would have offered.

Immediate impact: a 2027 delay keeps OpenAI's roughly $1tn valuation as a private-market reference point that no public trade can currently contradict, preserving paper wealth for employees and early investors holding illiquid equity.

Structurally, the delay also keeps OpenAI outside standard quarterly public disclosure for longer, meaning the specific revenue and loss figures currently available only through leaked reporting stay outside the normal public-company disclosure cycle for another year.

Consensus view: Jay Ritter, the University of Florida's IPO-pricing specialist, argues OpenAI's private secondary-market valuation of roughly $1 trillion reflects a smaller, less price-sensitive investor base than public markets offer, and a 2026 listing at any discount to that figure would crystallise a paper loss for existing shareholders that a 2027 delay avoids.

Counter-view: Gulf-based investors, including Abu Dhabi's MGX, which co-financed OpenAI's Stargate build-out, are reportedly comfortable holding OpenAI at private valuations indefinitely, since sovereign capital does not face the quarterly redemption pressure that pushes traditional venture funds toward an exit event.

Key tension: Whether OpenAI's roughly $1tn private valuation is a real, transactable price or a number sustained only by the absence of a liquid public market that would test it.

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

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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

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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

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Different Perspectives

Wang Yi

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Ministry of External Affairs

India's foreign ministry called the attacks on Saudi civilian and energy sites "unacceptable" on 22 October and said they must stop at once. An Indian died at Dammam, Indians were injured there and at Shaybah, and about 4,000 Umrah pilgrims remain stranded by one MP's count.

Iraq

Iraq closed the al-Sheeb crossing with Iran to travellers and trucks from 21 October and said other crossings would close gradually. Unlike September's closure, which ended on a staged timetable, this one has none, and Iran's interior ministry said it received no notice.

Abdel Fattah el-Sisi

Egypt's president said on 21 October that Cairo's support would "defend Saudi territory, and does not include an attack on Yemen". Araghchi warned that Egyptian involvement would further complicate the situation, and Cairo's limit matches the one Ankara set on 8 October against attacking another state's soil.

UK Ministry of Defence

The MoD said on 20 October that RAF Typhoons over Saudi Arabia will not strike the Houthis, but extended tanker support to Saudi operations including against Houthi targets in Yemen. The tanker line sets no limit on strikes, so British aircraft may now refuel Saudi jets on bombing runs.

Turkey

Ankara sent the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement to parliament around 20 October, and its published text treats an attack on one party as an attack on all. Article 16 brings it into force only on the last ratification, so the 5 October invocation in Riyadh could not yet bind Turkey.

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