John Thornhill Published October 29 2026 Jump to comments section Print this page Unlock the Editor\'s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. The success of Anthropic\'s forthcoming initial public offering will be determined by which of two fears is stronger: the fear of missing out or the fear of messing up. A veteran financier explained that for a company losing $81bn in the first half of the year, worth up to $1.75tn, market acceptance of the figure matters more than observer opinion.
Most fund managers will not want to miss out on owning a sliver of one of the most remarkable companies in history, irrespective of price. This week\'s publication of Anthropic\'s IPO prospectus highlights the many ways the AI company is remarkable. At five years old, it is still a toddler but has released some of the world\'s most powerful and popular AI models, raised $141.1bn of funding and generated arguably the fastest revenue growth on record.
Anthropic generated $16.3bn of revenue in the first half of 2026, more than 12 times higher than the comparable period the previous year. Its 250 biggest customers each paid more than $10mn for Claude tools over the past year. The company argues AI value is on an exponential curve and Anthropic is well placed to capture a large share.
Dario Amodei, Anthropic\'s co-founder and chief executive, told the company\'s AI models can advance science, cure disease and boost economic growth. Anthropic\'s prospectus reveals fears about ways things could go wrong, with risk factors running to 94 pages of the 335-page document. It warns AI systems might run out of control and cause terrible harm resulting in major liabilities.
It also adds, without safeguards, AI could pose catastrophic or existential risks to humanity. Most risks are impossible to quantify. Investors\' more immediate concern will focus on Anthropic\'s incomplete section on future spending commitments.
The company has entered into several multiyear, non-cancellable purchase agreements for AI services and infrastructure. If future revenues do not cover these commitments, these liabilities could result in defaults and severe liquidity constraints. Pitch Book estimates future hard-to-exit commitments may amount to between $450bn and $600bn before 2031.
Source: Financial Times Companies · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing