Anthropic files for IPO; FT reports Blackstone expects a 'high' junk credit rating

Anthropic filed for an initial public offering on Monday, Oct. 26, and plans to list under the ticker "ANT", TechCrunch reported. Engadget reported that the company sent its Form S-1 to the SEC, that the stock would list on Nasdaq, and that Anthropic had filed a draft S-1 confidentially in June.

According to TechCrunch's reading of the SEC filing, revenue was $16.3 billion in the first half of 2026, up from $1.2 billion in the same period a year earlier. Operating loss was $693 million, compared with $2.1 billion in the first half of 2025. Net loss was $80.7 billion, which TechCrunch says was largely driven by noncash accounting adjustments tied to convertible debt. Engadget reported that the filing shows revenue grew 1,368 percent year over year in the three months ending June 30, 2026, while compute and infrastructure expenses grew 300 percent. It also reported that Anthropic had raised $141.1 billion in total capital as of June 30, 2026.

On governance, TechCrunch reported that Anthropic's Long-Term Benefit Trust will be able to appoint most of the board, and that the structure will enable the seven co-founders to maintain control after the listing. TechCrunch described the structure as controversial. Engadget reported that the filing lists risks including misuse, loss of control, authoritarian abuse and economic disruption.

In a separate article, TechCrunch reported that as of Sept. 30 Anthropic had more than 11,900 customers spending at least $100,000 a year, more than 1,900 spending $1 million or more, and about 250 spending $10 million or more. That article also says Anthropic's cloud partners (AWS, Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure) increasingly see it as a competitor, and that Anthropic says this could make it harder to secure the compute it needs.

On Oct. 30, TechCrunch relayed a Financial Times report that Blackstone, the anchor investor in a $63 billion deal to finance Anthropic's chips, told investors it expects a "high" junk rating (double-B range) for Anthropic after the IPO. The FT noted that Blackstone had earlier said Anthropic would receive an investment-grade rating before 2027. TechCrunch calls Blackstone's view "just a prediction". It notes that a junk rating would make raising money harder and costlier for Anthropic, which has signed many large compute deals over the past 12 months. TechCrunch says Anthropic and Blackstone declined to comment.

What we don't know yet

• Offering terms: TechCrunch reports that Anthropic has not disclosed how much it hopes to raise or its proposed share price. Engadget attributes to Anthropic the wording that the number of shares and the prices "have not yet been determined".
• Valuation and timing: The Oct. 26 TechCrunch article does not state a valuation. Engadget reported a valuation figure and an expected mid-November debut, but we could not verify either, and other outlets describe a different valuation. We have left the figure out.
• Revenue figures: TechCrunch's first-half 2026 revenue and Engadget's June-quarter growth rate cover different periods. We could not check them against the S-1 itself, and the figures here come from press reports of the filing.
• Credit rating: The rating forecast rests on the Financial Times report as relayed by TechCrunch. We did not find the FT original, and it is a forecast, not a rating decision.