OpenAI Delays $1 Trillion IPO As Market Volatility Tests Altman's Ambitions

OpenAI is leaning toward postponing its long-anticipated initial public offering until 2027 as market volatility, heavy spending and investor concerns complicate its pursuit of a $1 trillion valuation.

Key Points:

OpenAI IPO

OpenAI is reportedly reconsidering the timing of its public market debut, with executives now leaning toward delaying the company's initial public offering until next year after advisers warned that current market conditions could undermine its ambitious valuation target.

According to The New York Times, the company had hired investment bankers and legal advisers to prepare for a potential IPO as early as the third or fourth quarter of 2026. Chief Executive Sam Altman reportedly wanted the listing to value the company at $1 trillion, a sharp increase from its most recent private valuation of $730 billion.

That strategy has become harder to justify after several developments unsettled the market. The biggest concern has been the weak post-IPO performance of SpaceX, whose shares have fallen significantly since the company's record-breaking public debut earlier this month. Broader technology stocks have also weakened as investors question whether artificial intelligence companies can deliver enough revenue to support lofty valuations.

According to people familiar with the discussions, advisers have suggested that OpenAI either postpone its IPO until 2027 to preserve its $1 trillion valuation goal or accept a lower valuation in exchange for going public sooner. Altman reportedly rejected the idea of reducing the target, calling it unacceptable.

Also Read: Polymarket Loses $3M In Frontend Hack, Then Promises Full Repayment

Altman Strategy

The timing debate comes as OpenAI continues to spend aggressively across nearly every part of its business. The company is investing billions in new data centers and computing infrastructure while expanding hiring, particularly by recruiting leading researchers from rivals including Meta and Google.

OpenAI is also testing additional sources of revenue beyond subscriptions. Internal projects include experiments with advertising inside ChatGPT and e-commerce partnerships with Shopify and Stripe, allowing users to complete purchases directly through the chatbot. Those initiatives remain in the early stages, according to employees cited in the report.

Financial pressure has also fueled internal debate. The company reportedly generated about $13 billion in revenue during 2025 and aims to roughly triple that figure this year, but it continues to operate without reported profitability while funding rapid expansion.

Some employees were surprised when IPO plans resurfaced after Chief Financial Officer Sarah Friar had previously indicated that strengthening the company's finances remained the priority.

Despite those challenges, OpenAI continues to expand its business. The company recently reported more than two million enterprise customers and over five million weekly users of its Codex coding platform. It has also intensified competition with Anthropic and Google by strengthening its enterprise sales efforts and recently hiring prominent AI researcher Noam Shazeer, one of the co-authors of the 2017 transformer architecture paper that laid the foundation for modern generative AI systems.

Read Next: Anthropic Co-Founder Says AI’s First Real Job Shock Is Hitting Graduates