OpenAI is racing to secure investor commitments for a round of about $30 billion that could value it at over $1.4 trillion, before Anthropic’s expected public market debut in mid-November, Reuters reported on 19 October 2026, citing two people familiar with the matter.
SoftBank Group, Abu Dhabi-based MGX and other existing backers of OpenAI are in talks to join the round, one of the people said, according to Reuters. OpenAI and SoftBank declined to comment; Anthropic and MGX did not immediately respond, Reuters said.
What happened next (31 Oct): target cut to about $20B. The Financial Times reported on 31 October that OpenAI has slashed its funding target by $10 billion as tech anxieties mount, and that the ChatGPT maker is now seeking about $20 billion at a $1.25 trillion valuation as it tempers its ambitions. We have read only the FT’s headline and standfirst; the article body is behind its paywall. Our full story on the cut.
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The key insight: As we read it, Reuters describes a fundraising race between two private labs over the same pool of capital: OpenAI wants commitments for about $30 billion at over $1.4 trillion before Anthropic’s disclosures invite side-by-side comparisons.
Update (22 Oct): OpenAI is close to finalizing a funding round of up to $30 billion at a $1.25 trillion pre-money valuation, CNBC reported on 22 October, citing people familiar with the deal who asked not to be named. CNBC said that valuation does not include the new capital being raised.
Investors from the United Arab Emirates are leading the round alongside Coatue, the people told CNBC. OpenAI told investors on Thursday that it aims to secure signatures by the end of next week, and the final size of the round is still being determined, according to CNBC. The financing is being positioned as an “opportunistic” bridge ahead of a potential IPO, the people said; CNBC added that CFO Sarah Friar has told employees a listing will likely come in 2027, and that OpenAI has filed confidentially to go public.
Alongside the investment, OpenAI is negotiating a commercial deal that would secure more computing capacity from the UAE, according to one person cited by CNBC.
How it compares with the earlier report: on 19 October Reuters said the round of about $30 billion could value OpenAI at over $1.4 trillion. CNBC’s figure is $1.25 trillion before the new money; adding up to $30 billion gives up to about $1.28 trillion after it, by our arithmetic, still below the over-$1.4 trillion Reuters reported. The $1.25 trillion pre-money figure is about 47% above the $852 billion valuation OpenAI reached after its March round, as Reuters reported it, by our arithmetic. Neither outlet has published final terms. The UAE’s role sits alongside our piece on an Iranian official’s warning that data centers and AI facilities could be in Iran’s crosshairs if attacks resume; CNBC did not connect the two.
The Financial Times framed the same figure as a cut. In posts on X on 22 October, the FT reported that OpenAI has trimmed its valuation target to $1.25tn after pitching a higher price: the AI lab floated a $1.4tn price tag to investors earlier this month, according to documents seen by the FT, and the $1.25tn target is an almost 50% jump from its current $852bn valuation, according to people familiar with the matter. The FT puts the earlier pitch at $1.4tn against the $1.25tn target; Reuters reported on 19 October that the round could value OpenAI at over $1.4 trillion. We could not read the FT article itself; these lines come from the FT’s own posts.
The rapid timetable reflects, in part, a desire to get ahead of Anthropic as the two frontier labs tap a similar investor base, the people told Reuters. They added that OpenAI wants to capitalize on its recent revenuegrowth after launching new models.
OpenAI held meetings with long-only funds and sovereign wealth funds last week while Anthropic was hosting its own investor day, Reuters reported. The round is expected to move faster than is typical for an offering of its size, the people said.
Investors familiar with the company told Reuters that OpenAI also needs capital to fund its infrastructure commitments and bolster its balance sheet if weaker IPO markets further delay its planned 2027 listing.
Reported and most recent valuations of OpenAI and Anthropic: Anthropic’s desired $2 trillion IPO value and the roughly $1.5 trillion some investors argued for (Reuters), OpenAI’s sought valuation of over $1.4 trillion in a round of about $30 billion (Reuters, citing two people familiar), Anthropic’s most recent $965 billion (Bloomberg) and OpenAI’s $852 billion in March (Reuters). None is a final price. The 28x multiple of $1.4 trillion over the $50 billion annualized revenue OpenAI is pitching is our arithmetic; the two companies count revenue differently, per Reuters.
Reuters posted its exclusive on X at 01:20 UTC on 20 October. It is the report this piece is built on: citing two people familiar with the matter, Reuters says OpenAI is racing to secure investor commitments before Anthropic’s expected debut in mid-November, in a round that could value it at more than $1.4 trillion. According to one of the people, SoftBank, MGX and other existing backers are in talks to join the round of about $30 billion. The 1.6x and 28x multiples in the piece are our own arithmetic, not Reuters’.
Scoop: OpenAI is closing in on a funding round of up to $30 billion at a $1.25 trillion (pre-money) valuation, led by UAE investors and Coatue
CNBC’s Kate Rooney posted her scoop on 22 October: OpenAI is closing in on a round of up to $30 billion at a $1.25 trillion pre-money valuation, led by UAE investors and Coatue, and is negotiating a commercial deal that would secure more computing capacity from the UAE, according to one person. It is the report behind this piece’s 22 October Update and current headline.
The Revenue Pitch
OpenAI is pitching investors on growth that accelerated after the launch of its GPT-6 Astra model, saying it had reached $50 billion in annualized revenue and expects that to rise to $70 billion by year-end, according to one of the people, Reuters reported.
OpenAI has also cut prices on its cheaper models, which it said boosted usage, and told investors it can further lower the price of AI models, the person added, according to Reuters.
OpenAI is seeking to complete the round before Anthropic’s financial disclosures give investors a fuller picture of its business and invite comparisons, one person said. Those disclosures could prompt investors to press Chief Financial Officer Sarah Friar for more detail on revenuegrowth, the person added, per Reuters.
Two Ways of Counting Revenue
OpenAI records revenue on a net basis by subtracting partner shares upfront, Reuters reported. It has accused Anthropic of inflating its revenue by counting the full, gross value of contracts sold through third-party cloud providers; Anthropic told Reuters earlier that it follows established accounting practices.
Anthropic’s annualized revenue reached roughly $65 billion by July, Reuters previously reported. It said Anthropic told investors its quarterly revenue rose to $16.8 billion in the third quarter from $11.6 billion in the second, while slowing month-to-month growth has raised investor concerns about its valuation.
The Valuations, Side by Side
OpenAI was last valued at $852 billion in March, after a $122 billion funding round that included Amazon’s agreement to invest up to $50 billion, Reuters reported. Some existing and prospective Anthropic investors have argued for a valuation closer to $1.5 trillion for its debut instead of the desired $2 trillion, Reuters reported last week.
Anthropic’s most recent valuation is $965 billion, Bloomberg reported on 19 October. By our arithmetic, $1.4 trillion is about 1.6 times OpenAI’s March valuation and about 28 times the $50 billion annualized revenue it is pitching. The two companies count revenue differently, per Reuters, so the figures are not like for like.
The Market Around the Round
A number of companies preparing to go public have decided to wait until after Anthropic’s IPO, and some late-stage companies are timing private rounds to avoid its debut, bankers and investors told Reuters. AirTrunk REIT, Firmus and SB Energy have pulled or paused listings, it said.
Companies in the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index have shed $1.6 trillion in less than two weeks, Reuters reported, and CoreWeave’s shares and debt fell last week as investors scrutinized nearly $50 billion in borrowings.
“It’s really a two-horse race in terms of being public,” Edward Best, co-chair of capital markets at Willkie Farr & Gallagher, told Reuters. He is not working on the deal and commented on a hypothetical basis, Reuters said.
The Structural Read
As we read it, the timing is the mechanism: one of the people told Reuters OpenAI wants the round done before Anthropic’s financial disclosures give investors a fuller picture and invite comparisons between the two companies.
As we read it, the comparison is harder than it looks, because Reuters reports OpenAI records revenue net of partner shares while it says Anthropic counts the gross value of contracts sold through cloud providers, which Anthropic says follows established practice.
As we read it, the backdrop matters too: Reuters reports other companies are delaying listings and private rounds around Anthropic’s debut, while chip stocks shed $1.6 trillion in under two weeks.
Edward Best, Willkie Farr & Gallagher, to Reuters (not working on the deal, speaking hypothetically)
“It’s really a two-horse race in terms of being public”
Three Implications
A REPORTED ROUND About $30 billion at a valuation that could exceed $1.4 trillion, with SoftBank and MGX among backers in talks, citing people familiar, per Reuters.
A REVENUE PITCH OpenAI is telling investors it reached $50 billion in annualized revenue and expects $70 billion by year-end, one person told Reuters.
A CLOCK Anthropic’s IPO is expected in mid-November, Reuters reported, and OpenAI wants commitments before then.
The framework puts it this way: “Every headline, every valuation move, every strategic decision in the cycle lives inside one of these nine boxes.”
As we read it, OpenAI and Anthropic both sit in the model layer, and the round Reuters describes is a valuation move in that layer. The framework was published in May 2026 and does not discuss this round.
What Is Not Established
The round size, valuation and investor list come from people familiar, not from OpenAI, and no terms are final. Reuters said SoftBank and MGX are in talks to join, not that they have committed.
The $50 billion and $70 billion revenue figures are what OpenAI is telling investors, according to one person, not audited results. Anthropic’s IPO valuation and date are not set.
CNBC’s $1.25 trillion pre-money figure and Reuters’ over-$1.4 trillion each rest on the outlet’s own unnamed sources, and CNBC did not name which UAE investors are leading. Signatures were targeted for the end of next week, according to CNBC, so the terms could still change.
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OpenAI is seeking about $30 billion at a valuation that could exceed $1.4 trillion and wants commitments before Anthropic’s expected mid-November IPO, Reuters reported on 19 October 2026, citing two people familiar. By our arithmetic, that is about 1.6 times its $852 billion March valuation.
A note on sourcing. This piece is built on Reuters’ 19 October 2026 exclusive, read in full, which cites two people familiar with the matter; Anthropic’s $965 billion valuation is from Bloomberg’s 19 October report. OpenAI and SoftBank declined to comment to Reuters. The multiples are ours. Nothing here is a forecast, and nothing here is financial or investment advice.
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.
