According to The Wall Street Journal, OpenAI is preparing to secretly submit its initial public offering (IPO) prospectus to U.S. securities regulators within the coming weeks — potentially as early as this Friday, May 23 — with Bloomberg subsequently confirming this independently. Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley have been appointed as lead underwriters, and the IPO is slated for this fall. An OpenAI spokesperson stated, “As part of our regular governance process, we routinely evaluate various strategic options; currently, our focus remains on executing our business plan.”
The timing of this IPO announcement is particularly significant: just two days prior, OpenAI secured a legal victory against a lawsuit filed by Elon Musk. Analysts view this removal of legal uncertainties as a direct catalyst for accelerating the IPO timeline. As reported by Reuters, OpenAI’s latest private fundraising round valued the company at roughly $852 billion. Its ChatGPT platform now boasts over 900 million weekly active users, while paid subscribers have surpassed 50 million. Despite these achievements, the firm remains unprofitable; Microsoft holds approximately 27% equity stake, while SoftBank is another key shareholder.