Anthropic sets $70–$78 IPO range, valuing it up to $1.4 trillion

Anthropic, the maker of the Claude AI models, on Tuesday set a price range of $70 to $78 a share for its initial public offering and launched the roadshow where executives pitch the stock to investors. The company has applied to list on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker "ANT," according to its announcement.

The valuation: At the top of the range, Anthropic would be worth about $1.404 trillion on a fully diluted basis, which counts stock options and similar securities, TechCrunch and CNBC reported. That is about 45% above the $965 billion valuation from its May funding round. Excluding those securities, the market value would be about $1 trillion, Reuters reported.

Big chip and cloud backers: Anthropic also agreed to sell $26 billion of non-voting Class N stock at the IPO price in a private placement to AMD, Broadcom, Google, Micron, Microsoft, Nvidia and TSMC, CNBC and TechCrunch reported. Google and Nvidia are putting in $10 billion each, according to TechCrunch. Counting that deal, Anthropic estimates net proceeds of $84.6 billion to $93.7 billion. Business Insider said the total would top the $75 billion SpaceX first raised in its record June IPO; CNBC put SpaceX's final haul at $85.7 billion.

New numbers in the filing: Run-rate revenue reached about $81 billion at the end of October, up roughly $10 billion from the end of September, CNBC and TechCrunch reported. For the nine months through Sept. 30, revenue was $33.24 billion, up about 1,200% from a year earlier, against a $104 billion net loss that CNBC said came mostly from changes in the fair value of convertible notes and derivative liabilities. Seven co-founders, including CEO Dario Amodei and President Daniela Amodei, each plan to sell nearly 3.4 million shares, about $250 million apiece at the $74 midpoint, TechCrunch reported.

Timing: Anthropic plans to price the deal on Nov. 18 and begin trading Nov. 19, and is aiming to set aside about 20% of shares for retail investors, people familiar with the plans told CNBC. That is well above the usual 5% to 10%. The same people said institutional orders already cover the deal at the range. Anthropic has not announced those dates.

How the valuation talk moved: In early October, people familiar with the plans told Bloomberg that some investors were discussing about $1.8 trillion to $2 trillion. On Nov. 6, Bloomberg reported prospective buyers were talking about $1.2 trillion to $1.3 trillion, with some as low as $1.1 trillion, and CNBC quoted an investor calling $1.5 trillion a "stretch." Late Monday, terms showing about 867 million shares at up to $80, for as much as $69.3 billion, briefly went to banks and were then pulled, according to emails seen by Reuters. Tuesday's filing landed at up to $1.404 trillion, roughly 30% below the $2 trillion talk.

What's still unknown: Where the final price lands, and whether it moves outside the range; whether the Nov. 18 and Nov. 19 dates hold if markets keep sliding; how many shares retail buyers actually get, and through which brokers; and how the stock trades once the $26 billion of placement shares, which CNBC said are not under the usual underwriter lock-up, can be sold.

The price range, share counts, Nasdaq ticker and private placement come from Anthropic's Nov. 10 announcement and its amended SEC filing as reported by CNBC, TechCrunch and Reuters (via CBC). The planned Nov. 18 pricing, Nov. 19 first trade and roughly 20% retail allocation come from people familiar with the plans who spoke to CNBC anonymously; Anthropic has not announced those dates. Proceeds ranges were computed by US Brief from the filed share counts and match the outlets' figures. The registration statement is not yet effective, and the final price can land outside the range.