OpenAI May Delay IPO Until 2027

OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT, is leaning toward postponing its initial public offering until 2027, The New York Times writes, citing three people involved in the discussions.

According to them, the company had previously hired investment bankers and lawyers to prepare an IPO in the third or fourth quarter of 2026. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman instructed advisers to find a way to secure a $1 trillion valuation for the company. Now, however, management is considering abandoning the previous timetable.

One factor was SpaceX’s IPO, during which Elon Musk’s company raised more than $85 billion. After the listing, its shares began to fall and, by the close of trading on June 25, had dropped to $153 after peaking at $202.

In addition, global markets remain volatile, and investors are increasingly questioning whether companies in the artificial-intelligence sector can justify the expectations built into their high valuations.

According to two NYT sources, OpenAI’s advisers warned the company’s leadership that its shares might not attract sufficiently strong interest from retail investors.

As a result, they proposed two scenarios: postpone the listing until 2027 in an attempt to achieve a $1 trillion valuation, or lower the target valuation for the sake of a faster IPO. According to one of the NYT’s sources, Altman made clear that a valuation below $1 trillion is not even being considered.

In 2026, IPOs were expected from three major technology companies at once—SpaceX, Anthropic, the developer of Claude, and OpenAI. SpaceX was the first to go public. After trading began, Musk became the first dollar trillionaire in history, but the company’s share price then began to decline.