OpenAI delays IPO to 2027 as SoftBank, Goldman shares slide

OpenAI is pushing its initial public offering to 2027, a decision that sent shares of its largest corporate backer tumbling.

OpenAI is leaning toward delaying its initial public offering until 2027, people familiar with the matter said, a timeline that sent shares of SoftBank Group Corp. and its IPO underwriters sliding Friday.

"Waiting for the right window makes sense when you're targeting a trillion-dollar valuation, but it also signals that the company isn't confident in the current market's appetite for AI names," said Tom Brennan, an IPO and M&A analyst.

The ChatGPT maker had filed confidential paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission earlier this month, eyeing a listing as early as the third or fourth quarter. Advisers presented two paths: wait until 2027 for a $1 trillion debut or accept a lower valuation for a faster listing. Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman called any reduction a "nonstarter," according to the New York Times. The company's most recent private valuation stands at $852 billion, after it reported roughly $13 billion in revenue last year against a $21 billion net loss.

The delay removes what many investors had viewed as the marquee IPO of 2026, potentially reshaping the pipeline for AI listings. SoftBank Group Corp., a major OpenAI backer, fell as much as 4.9% in New York trading Friday, while Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley — the banks working on the IPO — dropped 4.9% and 4.2%, respectively.

The postponement comes as the broader tech IPO market faces turbulence. SpaceX, which went public June 12 in a record $85 billion debut that valued the company at $2.77 trillion, has seen its stock slide from above $225 to $153, erasing Elon Musk's trillionaire status. Anthropic, OpenAI's chief rival, confidentially filed with the SEC on June 1 and is considering an IPO as soon as October, Bloomberg News has reported. The Claude maker raised funding at a $965 billion valuation in late May, overtaking OpenAI's private valuation for the first time.

Government Restricts GPT-5.6 Rollout

Separately, the U.S. government asked OpenAI to stagger the release of its latest model, GPT-5.6, over security concerns, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters. The Office of the National Cyber Director and the Office of Science and Technology Policy requested the phased approach. Altman told staff the model would be available only in a limited preview to select partners, with the government "approving access customer by customer," according to The Information.

The restriction mirrors the U.S. government's earlier block on Anthropic's Claude Fable 5, signaling a new paradigm where Washington uses AI access as a policy tool. That approach carries risk: Chinese company Z.ai recently released its open-weight model GLM-5.2, which approaches the performance of GPT-5.5 and Claude Opus 4.8 — and is freely downloadable.

A Crowded Pipeline Thins

OpenAI's hesitation leaves a gap in what was shaping up to be one of the most anticipated IPO seasons in tech history. Beyond Anthropic and SpaceX, companies including Strava, Discord, Kraken and smart-ring maker Oura have filed confidentially this year. The broader tech market has been shaky, with investors questioning whether AI companies can deliver on valuations that have soared past traditional metrics.

OpenAI is hunting for new revenue streams to address those doubts, experimenting with advertising inside ChatGPT and e-commerce tie-ups with Shopify and Stripe, while paring back money-losing ventures including its Sora video app. The company projects $600 billion in spending on compute and hardware through 2030, according to CNBC.

The legal cloud that had hung over OpenAI's restructuring cleared last month when a federal jury in Oakland ruled against Musk's lawsuit claiming Altman violated promises to keep the company a charitable nonprofit. Musk has vowed to appeal, though the judge signaled deep skepticism about the case.

For SoftBank, the delay pushes back what could have been a major liquidity event for its Vision Fund portfolio. The Japanese conglomerate has been one of OpenAI's largest financial backers, and the postponement removes a near-term catalyst for realizing returns on that investment.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.