OpenAI is preparing to file for an initial public offering within weeks, targeting a September debut on public markets, the Wall Street Journal reported Sunday, citing sources familiar with the matter. Chief Executive Sam Altman has enlisted Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to lead what bankers expect to be one of the largest tech listings in years. The move comes one day after a federal judge dismissed Elon Musk's lawsuit that sought to block the company's for-profit restructuring.
The confidential filing could land with the Securities and Exchange Commission within days. That timeline puts OpenAI on a standoff with another Musk venture. SpaceX, the rocket maker that absorbed Musk's AI startup xAI earlier this year, is expected to make its own IPO filing public as soon as Wednesday, according to reports cited by TechCrunch.
The dual listings would transform the long-running feud between Altman and Musk from courtroom battles to a contest measured in market capitalizations and investor roadshows. Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley have dominated tech IPO league tables for the past decade. Their selection signals the scale of ambition inside OpenAI's San Francisco headquarters.
The company was valued at $157 billion in its last private funding round, CNBC reported. A public listing at that level would rank among the ten largest US tech IPOs in history. What this actually means for your family.
If you hold a 401(k) or any broad market index fund, you will likely own a slice of OpenAI within months of its debut. The company's technology already powers tools used by millions of workers. A public listing means quarterly earnings calls, regulatory filings, and the kind of transparency that private companies avoid.
The policy says one thing. The reality says another. OpenAI was founded in 2015 as a nonprofit with a mission to build artificial general intelligence that benefits all of humanity.
Its restructuring into a for-profit entity has drawn criticism from AI safety advocates and, most loudly, from Musk himself. Musk, who helped found OpenAI before departing in 2018, sued the company in February 2024. He alleged that Altman and President Greg Brockman had betrayed the founding charter by creating a profit-driven subsidiary and partnering exclusively with Microsoft.
The lawsuit sought to void OpenAI's licensing agreements and force the return of its technology to the nonprofit. US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers dismissed the suit on Friday. The ruling cleared the legal cloud that had hung over OpenAI's fundraising and restructuring efforts for over a year. "The dismissal removes a significant overhang for the company," Gil Luria, managing director at DA Davidson, told Reuters. "Investors can now underwrite the IPO without the uncertainty of a court-ordered unwinding."
Musk's legal team has not said whether it will appeal. His attorney, Alex Spiro, did not respond to requests for comment from multiple outlets. The silence leaves open the possibility of further litigation even as bankers prepare the roadshow.
Both sides claim victory. Here are the numbers. OpenAI's revenue reportedly reached $3.7 billion in 2024, according to The Information, though the company has not publicly confirmed that figure.
The business burns through cash at a rate — training frontier AI models requires billions in computing infrastructure. A successful IPO would give Altman the capital to compete with Google, Anthropic, and the Musk-controlled xAI without relying solely on Microsoft's deep pockets. SpaceX presents a different financial profile.
The company is profitable, people familiar with its finances told Bloomberg, generating revenue from launch contracts with NASA, the Pentagon, and commercial satellite operators. Its absorption of xAI added an AI division that Musk has positioned as a direct rival to OpenAI's GPT models. Musk has publicly claimed xAI's Grok model matches or exceeds GPT-4 on several benchmarks.
Independent evaluations by Stanford's HELM project have not fully verified those claims. The IPO process will force both companies to disclose audited financials, customer counts, and risk factors — data that will let investors make direct comparisons for the first time. The timing matters beyond the Musk-Altman rivalry.
The broader IPO market has been sluggish since 2022, when rising interest rates slammed the door on the pandemic-era listing boom. A blockbuster OpenAI debut could unlock a pipeline of venture-backed companies that have waited years for favorable conditions. Stripe, Databricks, and Starlink are among the names that bankers have floated as potential follow-on candidates. "OpenAI going public would be a bellwether for the entire tech IPO market," Kathleen Smith, principal at Renaissance Capital, told CNBC. "If it prices well and trades up, it opens the window.
If it struggles, that window stays shut."
The international dimension adds another layer. European regulators have scrutinized OpenAI's data practices, and the EU AI Act imposes new transparency requirements on foundation model developers. Chinese competitors, including Baidu and ByteDance, are racing to match GPT-4's capabilities.
A publicly traded OpenAI would face quarterly pressure to justify its spending on safety research — a tension that nonprofit board members have long warned about. Altman himself has acknowledged the challenge. "We have to build a sustainable business while staying true to the mission," he said at a Bloomberg conference in April. "That is the hardest thing I have ever done."
Why It Matters: An OpenAI IPO would be the first time retail investors can buy shares in the company behind ChatGPT, the fastest-growing consumer application in history. It would also test whether a company founded on a nonprofit mission can satisfy Wall Street's demand for margins without cutting corners on safety. For the 100 million people who use ChatGPT weekly, the answer determines whether the tools they rely on get safer or get stripped for parts.
Key takeaways from the developing story: - OpenAI is targeting a September IPO with Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley leading the offering, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing unnamed sources. - The move follows a federal judge's dismissal of Elon Musk's lawsuit that sought to block the company's for-profit restructuring. - SpaceX, which absorbed Musk's xAI, is expected to file its own IPO paperwork this week, setting up a direct financial competition between the two companies. - A successful OpenAI listing could unlock a frozen tech IPO market that has been dormant since 2022. The next milestone is the confidential filing itself. If it lands this week, as the Journal's sources suggest, the SEC review process typically takes three to four months.
That puts a September pricing date within reach but leaves little margin for delay. Investors will watch for the S-1 document's risk factors — particularly any disclosure of ongoing regulatory investigations or unresolved intellectual property disputes. Musk's next move remains the wildcard.
An appeal of Friday's ruling would reintroduce legal uncertainty at the worst possible moment for Altman's bankers. Even without an appeal, Musk has the platform and the resources to wage a public campaign against the listing. His posts on X, the social network he owns, have moved markets before.
The roadshow itself will test Altman's ability to sell a story that balances profit and purpose. Institutional investors will want to see a path to operating margins that justify a valuation north of $150 billion. AI safety advocates will scrutinize every word of the prospectus for signs that the mission is being diluted.
Both audiences will be watching the same document for different reasons. The filing cannot satisfy them both. That tension defines OpenAI's entire experiment — and it is about to go public in every sense of the word.
Key Takeaways
— OpenAI is targeting a September IPO with Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley leading the offering, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing unnamed sources.
— The move follows a federal judge's dismissal of Elon Musk's lawsuit that sought to block the company's for-profit restructuring.
— SpaceX, which absorbed Musk's xAI, is expected to file its own IPO paperwork this week, setting up a direct financial competition between the two companies.
— A successful OpenAI listing could unlock a frozen tech IPO market that has been dormant since 2022.
Source: TechCrunch
