Sam Altman told staff to expect a public offering 'within the next year,' signaling a likely slip from earlier timelines despite a prospectus already on file.
OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman told employees via Slack that the company expects an initial public offering (IPO) — a first sale of shares to the public — “within the next year,” suggesting the listing could slide into 2027 rather than happening imminently. [1]
Altman characterized the already-filed prospectus as a way to preserve “optionality if we want to go sooner,” rather than a signal of an imminent listing. [1]
The CEO offered two competing forces that could influence timing: progress on self-improving AI could push the IPO back because “technology and the world may change in surprising ways, and there might be good reasons to be a private company during that time,” while large capital requirements for compute infrastructure could accelerate it. [1]
The delay comes as rival AI lab Anthropic appears set to go public in the coming weeks, and OpenAI is still burning cash — factors that could weigh on OpenAI’s valuation if it listed now. [1]
Alongside the IPO update, Altman announced an upcoming secondary stock sale for employees priced at $687.69 per share. [1]
On the product side, OpenAI is preparing a new model internally codenamed 5.6, which research lead Jakub Pachocki describes as a significant step up from GPT-5.5, with a possible June release. [1]
Sources
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