OpenAI confidentially files IPO prospectus, joining Anthropic and SpaceX on mega-tech listing roadmap

OpenAI has submitted a confidential draft S-1 registration statement to the US Securities and Exchange Commission, placing the world's most prominent artificial intelligence company on a potential path to the public markets.

The filing puts OpenAI alongside rival AI startup Anthropic and Elon Musk's SpaceX in a crowded queue of mega-tech listings that could reshape how Wall Street values the AI sector. In a statement, OpenAI said it submitted the confidential S-1 and anticipated the document would leak, prompting the company to announce it proactively rather than wait for it to surface elsewhere.

The S-1 filing arrives less than a month after OpenAI secured a decisive legal victory that had threatened to cloud its public market ambitions. A jury in Oakland, California rejected all of Elon Musk's claims against OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and the company, after less than two hours of deliberations.

The jury determined that Musk had waited too long to bring his lawsuit, finding it was barred by the statute of limitations, and concluded that Musk had been aware of the conduct central to the case as early as 2021. Musk's counsel has reserved the right to appeal.

Alongside the IPO filing, OpenAI is preparing a sweeping overhaul of its flagship product. According to the Financial Times, OpenAI is planning its biggest ChatGPT redesign yet, aiming to turn it into a "superapp" with coding tools and AI agents ahead of a potential stock market listing.

The changes are part of a broader reorganisation at OpenAI as it shifts resources toward enterprise clients and intensifies competition with Anthropic, the report said, citing more than a dozen current and former employees.

The overhaul will give greater prominence to OpenAI's coding product Codex and is set to roll out in the coming weeks, initially appearing as updates to ChatGPT's website and mobile apps.

OpenAI is also redesigning ChatGPT's interface with new prompts and features steering users toward coding tools, image generation, and partner services such as Canva and Booking.com. According to the FT, most Codex users are paying customers, while 2 million businesses account for roughly 40 per cent of OpenAI's revenue, a share the company expects to rise to 50 per cent by year-end. ChatGPT currently serves more than 900 million weekly active users.

Despite the filing, OpenAI was quick to temper expectations about an imminent listing. The company said it has not decided on timing, noting there are things it wants to do that are likely easier as a private company. It described the submission as presenting a complicated set of tradeoffs, while giving the company the option to go public sooner if that ultimately proves to be the best course of action.

Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are reportedly leading the process, according to the Wall Street Journal, with a September 2026 debut floated as a possible target — though OpenAI has not confirmed that timeline.

The S-1 submission drops one week after rival Anthropic filed its own confidential IPO prospectus on June 1. Anthropic submitted its confidential filing at a valuation of $965 billion. Meanwhile, SpaceX has moved furthest along among the three high-profile listings. SpaceX has already kicked off an investor roadshow ahead of what would be the largest IPO in history, planning to sell shares at $135 apiece for a total raise of $75 billion, giving Musk's company a valuation of around $1.77 trillion.

OpenAI closed a $122 billion funding round in March 2026, pushing its post-money valuation to $852 billion. Analysts covering the deal expect the listing could push OpenAI past a $1 trillion market capitalisation.

OpenAI's CFO Sarah Friar confirmed in January 2026 that the company's annualised revenue rate exited 2025 above $20 billion, against estimated full-year actual revenue of approximately $13.1 billion, reflecting rapid growth concentrated in the second half of the year.

The full public S-1 - which will disclose audited financials, detailed risk factors, and ownership structure - is expected to become available roughly 60 to 90 days after submission, placing the earliest public prospectus in late summer.

For now, the filing marks a significant inflection point for a company that has cleared its most significant legal obstacle, is readying its most ambitious product overhaul to date, and is eyeing a public market debut that could redefine how investors price the artificial intelligence era.