A Bloomberg chart published on 28 October 2026 found that Anthropic’s revenue for the first half of 2026 is nearly 400 times its revenue for all of 2023, far above Nvidia, Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft and SpaceX in the three years before their own listings. We rebuilt the comparison from the companies’ SEC filings, using full calendar years for every company.
On that like-for-like basis, Anthropic’s 2025 revenue was about 112 times its 2023 revenue, by our arithmetic. Nvidia’s comparable multiple was about 40 times, Google’s about 17, Facebook’s about 4.8 and SpaceX’s about 1.8.
A vertical news Short narrated from the published headlines and opening lines of this piece and four related FourWeekMBA pieces on Anthropic’s S-1 and its IPO.
An evergreen Business Engineer explainer on power laws, where a few outcomes take most of the value. It explains the general idea only and does not discuss Anthropic, its S-1 or the companies in this piece.
The key insight: As we read the filings, the headline multiple depends on the period chosen: about 397 times on Bloombergโs half-year basis, about 112 times on full years, and both are far above any of the other four companies.
Anthropic’s 2025 revenue was about 112 times its 2023 revenue ($4,585M / $41M); Nvidia’s revenue for the year to 31 January 1999 was about 40 times its calendar 1996 revenue ($158.2M / $3.9M); 2.8x is our arithmetic. Sources: Anthropic S-1 (26 Oct 2026); Nvidia IPO prospectus (Jan 1999) and FY1999 10-K. Original comparison: Bloomberg.
Anthropic’s S-1, filed on 26 October 2026, says: “In 2023, 2024, and 2025, our revenue was $41 million, $386 million, and $4.6 billion, respectively.” Its statements of operations put 2025 revenue at $4,585 million and revenue for the six months ended June 30, 2026 at $16,286 million.
Nvidia’s January 1999 IPO prospectus lists total revenue of $3.9 million in calendar 1996 and $29.1 million in calendar 1997. Nvidia then moved to a fiscal year ending in January; its first annual report after the IPO puts revenue for the year ended 31 January 1999 at $158.2 million.
Google’s August 2004 prospectus lists revenues of $86.4 million in 2001, $439.5 million in 2002 and $1,465.9 million in 2003. Facebook’s May 2012 prospectus lists revenue of $777 million in 2009, $1,974 million in 2010 and $3,711 million in 2011.
SpaceX’s S-1, filed in May 2026, lists revenue of $10,387 million in 2023, $14,015 million in 2024 and $18,674 million in 2025.
Revenue in the latest full year before each IPO divided by revenue two years earlier, our arithmetic from SEC filings: Anthropic 2025 vs 2023 ($4,585M / $41M = 112x); Nvidia year to 31 Jan 1999 vs calendar 1996 ($158.2M / $3.9M = 40x); Google 2003 vs 2001 ($1,465.9M / $86.4M = 17x); Facebook 2011 vs 2009 ($3,711M / $777M = 4.8x); SpaceX 2025 vs 2023 ($18,674M / $10,387M = 1.8x). Bloomberg’s chart, which uses Anthropic’s first half of 2026, shows nearly 400x for Anthropic.
Revenue for the first half of 2026 is nearly 400x its revenue for all of 2023, a multiple no company on the chart comes close to.
Nvidia, the next steepest line, stays well under 50x across its 3 pre-IPO years, while Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft and SpaceX barely leave the 1x baseline.
Anthropicโs full-year 2025 revenue was roughly 100x 2023, so 6 months of 2026 brought in about 4x what all of 2025 did.
Rohan Paul posted that Anthropic’s revenue for the first half of 2026 is nearly 400 times its revenue for all of 2023, a multiple the poster says no company on the chart comes close to, with Nvidia the next steepest line.
Two Ways to Count Anthropic
Bloomberg’s chart compares Anthropic’s first half of 2026 with its full year 2023. By our arithmetic, $16,286 million divided by $41 million is about 397 times, which matches the chart’s “nearly 400x”.
Comparing full year with full year, $4,585 million in 2025 against $41 million in 2023 gives about 112 times. That is the basis we use for every company in our chart.
Doubling the half-year figure would give $32,572 million, or about 794 times 2023. We show that number only to illustrate how sensitive the multiple is to the period chosen; it assumes the second half of 2026 matches the first, which the S-1 does not say.
The Multiples, Side by Side
By our arithmetic, each multiple is the latest full pre-IPO year divided by the year two years earlier. Anthropic: about 112 times (2025 against 2023). Nvidia: about 40 times (the year to January 1999 against calendar 1996). Google: about 17 times (2003 against 2001).
Facebook: about 4.8 times (2011 against 2009). SpaceX: about 1.8 times (2025 against 2023). On this basis, Anthropic’s multiple is about 2.8 times Nvidia’s, the next highest in the group.
Bloomberg’s chart also includes Microsoft. Microsoft’s 1986 prospectus predates the SEC’s electronic filing archive, so we did not rebuild its figures.
How We Rebuilt the Comparison
Bloomberg’s note says its revenues are from the latest three calendar years ending before the year of the IPO, except for Anthropic’s latest number, which is for the first six months of the year of the IPO. It adds that Nvidia’s numbers start from two calendar years before its January 1999 IPO because it shifted its fiscal year in 1998.
For Nvidia we used calendar 1996 as the base and the fiscal year ended 31 January 1999 as the latest year, the first full year under its new fiscal calendar. Using only the calendar years printed in the prospectus, 1997 against 1995, would give about 25 times instead. Bloomberg does not publish its exact Nvidia inputs.
The companies listed in different decades and under different accounting rules, so the multiples describe growth rates, not size. Anthropic’s 2023 base of $41 million is far smaller than Facebook’s $777 million or SpaceX’s $10.4 billion.
As we read it, the gap starts with a small base: Anthropicโs 2023 revenue of $41 million is less than a tenth of Facebookโs 2009 revenue of $777 million.
Nvidia is the closest comparison in the group, and its multiple of about 40 times also came from a small base, $3.9 million in calendar 1996.
SpaceX, the other 2026 listing in Bloombergโs chart, grew revenue about 1.8 times from 2023 to 2025, from a base of $10.4 billion, by our arithmetic.
Anthropic, Form S-1, filed 26 October 2026
“In 2023, 2024, and 2025, our revenue was $41 million, $386 million, and $4.6 billion, respectively.”
Three Implications
FOR ANTHROPIC The S-1 shows revenue of $41 million in 2023 and $16,286 million in the first half of 2026, and says its recent growth should not be considered indicative of future performance.
FOR IPO INVESTORS Multiples built from different periods can differ by a factor of three or more for the same company, as the 397 times and 112 times figures show.
FOR COMPARISONS WITH PAST LISTINGS The companies listed in different decades, from bases between $3.9 million and $10.4 billion, so the multiples compare growth rates, not size.
The Business Engineer Lens
This story maps onto the Business Engineer framework The AI Supercycle.
The framework explains the speed of this cycle in one line: “What changed is that AI reached the point where it could scale to billions of users on the same day.”
Anthropic’s filed revenue gives a dated measure of that speed for one company: $41 million in 2023 and $4,585 million in 2025. The framework was published before the S-1 and does not discuss these figures.
What Is Not Established
Bloomberg does not publish the exact figures behind each line, so our multiples for the other companies may differ from the chart’s. We did not rebuild Microsoft’s figures, and we did not adjust any revenue for inflation or for differences in accounting.
Anthropic’s S-1 says its recent revenuegrowth “should not be considered indicative of our future performance.” We did not contact Anthropic or Bloomberg.
This Week In The AI Supercycle
Execution Fault Lines, Concentrated Demand, and Geopolitical Firewalls
This week’s issue: the AI build is not short of demand for its parts. It is short of cheap money, and its end revenue rests on a narrow base of large, often venture-funded buyers.
Bloomberg’s nearly 400 times compares half a year of Anthropic’s 2026 revenue with all of 2023. Counting full years for every company, Anthropic’s 2025 revenue was about 112 times its 2023 revenue, against about 40 times for Nvidia, 17 for Google, 4.8 for Facebook and 1.8 for SpaceX over the comparable years before their listings, by our arithmetic from their SEC filings.
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A note on sourcing. Revenue figures come from each company’s SEC filings: Anthropic’s S-1 (26 October 2026), Nvidia’s IPO prospectus (January 1999) and its 10-K for the year to 31 January 1999, Google’s (August 2004) and Facebook’s (May 2012) IPO prospectuses, and SpaceX’s S-1 (May 2026). Multiples are our arithmetic. The original chart and comparison are Bloomberg’s; our chart is our own rebuild. We did not contact the companies or Bloomberg.
Gennaro Cuofano is a CRO and tech executive who has worked in AI since late 2015, starting with bringing NLP, natural-language generation, voice and chatbot products to the marketing industry. His background is in law and finance: he holds a Master's degree in Law and an International MBA with an emphasis on corporate finance (LUISS Business School and the University of San Diego, 2012), and worked as a financial analyst at a real-estate investment firm in San Diego and as an assistant controller. His work focuses on business model strategy, business engineering and, more broadly, structural analysis: how companies make money, read from their own filings. He created FourWeekMBA and leads research there and at The Business Engineer, his newsletter on AI and business strategy, with over 95,000 subscribers and more than 1,000 published analyses. His writing has also appeared on Entrepreneur (for example, How to Digitize a Family Business in Europe) and HackerNoon. Find him on LinkedIn and Substack. See how we source.
