Anthropic Possibly Worth $800 Billion Less After Stock Market Crash

The planned IPO of Anthropic, the company behind AI chatbot Claude, is under pressure after the huge stock market crash on Wall Street. Investors now want to value the company hundreds of billions of dollars lower than a few weeks ago.

The unrest comes at an unfortunate time, as Anthropic will soon officially be looking for investors for its stock market debut.

At the beginning of October, some investors still assumed a valuation of 2 trillion dollars for Anthropic. That expectation was later reduced to about 1.4 to 1.5 trillion dollars.

After Thursday's sharp price declines, a lower amount is again mentioned.

According to Bloomberg, some potential investors are now discussing a valuation of 1.2 to 1.3 trillion dollars. That is up to 800 billion dollars less than the highest expectations at the beginning of October.

It is about investor estimates, not an official valuation. Anthropic has not yet determined a final price for its shares.

The company will soon begin the official presentation of its IPO to major investors. Right now, they are increasingly doubtful about how much they are willing to pay.

Concerns were compounded Thursday by a historic wave of sales on Wall Street.

The Nasdaq 100 lost 6.4 percent and saw about $2.3 trillion in market value disappear in one trading day. Especially chip companies and other companies that benefit from the huge investments in artificial intelligence were hit hard.

The Democrats' election victory plays an important role in this. The party won the majority in the US Congress on Tuesday, allowing investors to take into account stricter rules for the AI sector.

Especially the construction of new data centers is under attack. They consume enormous amounts of electricity and water, while more and more Americans are worried about the consequences for their environment.

If the construction of data centers is slowed down, this could have consequences for the growth expectations of AI companies.

Anthropic also has to deal with this uncertainty. The company is growing rapidly with its chatbot Claude, but at the same time has to invest huge amounts in computing power to further develop its AI models.

The recent stock market crash makes investors more cautious with the high valuations that such companies get.

Anthropic is expected to begin officially offering its shares to major investors next week. But the turmoil on Wall Street makes it uncertain whether the company can achieve the desired valuation.

According to Stephan Kemper of BNP Paribas Wealth Management, Anthropic may have to settle for a valuation that is ten to fifteen percent below the aforementioned amounts.

David Rainville of Sycomore Asset Management expects a valuation of $1.2 trillion to attract enough buyers. Max Kettner of HSBC even thinks $1 trillion is a wiser starting point to prevent major price fluctuations after the IPO.

Anthropic may choose to initially offer fewer shares at a lower price. If the interest turns out to be large enough, the company can still increase the size of the IPO.

Postponement is also possible. Anthropic can wait until calm returns to Wall Street and investors regain confidence in AI stocks.

Previous IPOs have shown that caution can be wise. Chipmaker Cerebras and software company Figma sold more shares than originally planned at their IPOs. Nevertheless, both shares are now well below their introductory price.