OpenAI is preparing for a public stock market listing and has begun informal discussions with Wall Street banks. The company has also hired finance executives to manage investor relations ahead of the potential IPO. It is reportedly aiming to go public before rival Anthropic, which is also preparing for a possible listing in late 2026.
Internal targets discussed include a filing in the second half of 2026 and a listing in 2027, with the company potentially valued at up to $1 trillion. To put that in perspective, a successful listing would dwarf the floats of Facebook, Alibaba, and Saudi Aramco in dollar terms and stand as a bellwether for the broader appetite for AI stocks at a moment when revenue multiples across the sector have stretched far beyond historical norms.
On March 31, 2026, OpenAI reported $122 billion in committed capital at a post-money valuation of $852 billion, backed by major investors including Amazon, Nvidia, and SoftBank.
The company says ChatGPT now has over 900 million weekly users and 50 million paid subscribers, while processing more than 15 billion tokens per minute. Enterprise revenue already makes up over 40% and is expected to match consumer revenue by the end of 2026. Revenue has also grown sharply, rising from about $2 billion in 2023 to over $20 billion by 2025.
OpenAI’s IPO plans still face challenges, including its restructuring into a public benefit corporation, which is under regulatory review. A recent court ruling dismissing Elon Musk’s lawsuit has removed one legal hurdle.
Valuation concerns also persist, with the company priced at around 35 times annualised revenue, raising expectations ahead of public scrutiny. The IPO pipeline is also crowded, with SpaceX and Anthropic both preparing potential listings in 2026.