Anthropic, maker of Claude, targets 64 billion dollars in IPO
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Sowetan
Anthropic, the maker of Claude, is preparing a stock market flotation worth 64 billion dollars, with the price due to be set next Wednesday. According to two people close to the deal, relayed by Sowetan, demand already exceeds supply sixfold, but the durability of the company’s lead in AI is being questioned.
The order book for Anthropic’s initial public offering, the maker of Claude, had reached six times the number of shares offered by the end of Thursday, according to two people familiar with the operation, relayed by Sowetan. The offering, worth 64 billion dollars, is to be priced next Wednesday, after the investor presentation tour.
On the first day of that tour, demand already exceeded the supply of shares twice over. According to Reuters, the space company SpaceX had only reached that level at the end of its second day of the tour. Bankers and investors consider this demand impressive given the size of the offering, and expect the order book to rise substantially, according to two of those people.
Investors are asking two questions: whether Anthropic can keep its lead as Google, a subsidiary of Alphabet, quickly catches up in advanced AI models, and whether Claude can hold its position beyond coding, among knowledge workers. One investor who attended a meeting says the company did not give detailed answers to some questions; Anthropic declined to comment. The details of the offering, including demand, may still change.
This tour follows the announcement, on 10 November, of a price range of between 70 and 78 dollars per share.
