Via MSN. Summary in our own words, [read the original here].
The story: Anthropic has filed preliminary paperwork to sell stock to the public, in what could be one of the largest IPOs in U.S. history. Its annualized revenue run rate passed $47 billion by the end of May, up from roughly $9 billion at the end of 2025, but documents seen by Bloomberg show a net loss of nearly $42 billion in 2025. SpaceX’s own IPO filing showed that Anthropic has agreed to pay it $1.25 billion a month through May 2029 for data center access. Opinions on its value vary widely. Investor Michael Burry said there’s no guarantee Anthropic reaches a $1 trillion price tag, arguing frontier models are too expensive to build and compute could become a commodity. A PitchBook analyst said the filing could end up helping its rival OpenAI, depending on what it reveals about costs. nx s1 5843199 +5
Dr. Teddy Okafor-Whitlock: (squints at the paper, then at his coffee) Good morning, flock. Today’s front page has a number so big I had to check it twice, and I’m told I once calculated a bird migration route on a napkin. A company is getting ready to go public, and everyone has a feeling about it. A reminder that nothing we say here is investment advice. Magnus, I can see your monocle gleaming. Go ahead.
Magnus the Magpie: (polishes his monocle, practically glowing) Professor, this is the kind of story that makes a capitalist’s heart sing. Revenue that went from roughly nine billion to forty-seven billion in about five months, if the reports are right, is the kind of growth people write textbooks about. An IPO also means the public gets to see the books and decide what it’s worth, which I find beautiful. But I’ll be a responsible magpie and note that revenue isn’t profit. A nearly forty-two billion dollar loss is a very large hole, and the big question is whether the growth outruns the spending. I love a shiny thing, but even I check whether it’s gold.
Poe the Raven: I’d like to note, with a joy I can barely contain, that Magnus has just used the word “beautiful” about a spreadsheet. (slow blink) My concern is simpler. When three enormous companies are lining up to sell stock in the same year, that isn’t a market discovering a price, it’s a stampede. Burry’s warning is that models cost too much to build and compute may become a commodity, which is a polite way of saying the moat might be a puddle. I’m not predicting a crash. I’m just reminding everyone that “never seen anything like it” has been said about a lot of things that ended in a hearing.
Magnus: Poe, you’ve been predicting hearings since before I could spell “equity.”
Poe: And I’m right about eleven percent of the time, which in finance is called a career.
Dr. Teddy: Easy, both of you. Let’s get some facts on the table. Ptolemy, what do we actually know?
Professor Ptolemy the Owl: (unrolls a chart with a very steep line and a very deep hole) Gladly, Teddy. Known: the company has filed preliminary paperwork, reports put its run-rate revenue far above last year’s, and documents seen by Bloomberg show a large loss in 2025. Unknown: nearly everything the public filing will eventually say, including the real cost structure, which one analyst said could make or break the offering. A footnote of caution: the valuation figures swirling around, from just under a trillion to two trillion or more, are projections and estimates, not prices. Nobody has priced anything yet. I’d also remind everyone that a “run rate” is a snapshot multiplied forward, not a promise.
Penelope the Penguin: (adjusts her hard hat) Thank you, Ptolemy, and I’ll take the organizer’s angle. When I hear “trillion dollars,” I ask who gets the shiny part. The people who got in early, the founders, the big funds. The people who are in line at the grocery store don’t, and an IPO doesn’t change that. What worries me even more is the other half of the equation: this company sells technology that many workers are afraid will replace them. If one side of that story is a mountain of wealth, the other side should be a plan for the people whose jobs change. I’m not against the technology. I just want to know where the ladder is.
Gus the Pigeon: (through a mouthful of fry) Penelope, I’ve got a simpler question. Can I buy a piece of it? Because my cousin says there’s a way to get in before the IPO, on some website.
Dr. Teddy: Gus, that is exactly the question I’d hoped someone would ask, and I’ll answer it carefully. Reports say the company publicly declared a wave of those “pre-IPO” share sales void and named the platforms involved. So I’d be very wary of any website promising a backdoor. And I’ll repeat: I’m a bird professor, not a financial advisor.
Gus: Noted. Cousin’s getting a strongly worded text.
Magnus: Gus, I’ll add, without the monocle, that the real rule is don’t put in what you can’t afford to lose, especially in anything labeled “trillion.”
Gus: Magnus, that’s the first thing you’ve said that I’d put on a sticker.
Winnie the Wren, the smallest bird in the atrium, asked quietly how much electricity all those data centers would use, and whether anyone had put a number on it. Nobody had. She went back to her perch, and Teddy wrote the question in the margin.
Dr. Teddy: Let me pull this back before the atrium turns into a trading floor. I hear three questions. First, is it real, meaning do the numbers hold up? That’s Ptolemy’s. Second, is it wise, meaning is this a bubble or a breakthrough? That’s Magnus and Poe’s. Third, who benefits, meaning workers, ordinary investors, the planet? That’s Penelope’s, Gus’s, and Winnie’s. Let’s not mix them up.
Penelope: Fine, Professor, but I’d add a fourth: who decides?
Poe: (grudgingly) Fair. That’s the one I should have said.
Pickles the Parrot: (brightly) “Bubble! Bubble!”
Dr. Teddy: Pickles, that’s the dishwater, not the market. Though I appreciate the commentary.
Dr. Teddy’s Wrap-Up
Dr. Teddy: (sets down the mug) All right, flock, here’s what I heard. On the numbers, reports show enormous revenue growth alongside a very large loss, and the public filing will reveal much more. On the risk, skeptics warn the models are expensive to build and the valuations are guesses, while supporters point to the speed of growth. On who benefits, Penelope, Gus, and Winnie asked about workers, ordinary investors, and the energy bill, and nobody had a full answer.
Where you disagreed was whether this is a bubble or a breakthrough. Where you agreed was that the public deserves to see the real numbers and that nobody should rush in on a rumor. Gus has been told, by this entire room, to avoid his cousin’s website.
What to watch: the public filing, the price and timing of the offering, how the other big listings do, and whether the loss narrows.
And no, Magnus, I’m still not telling you how I’d invest. Pickles, give back the monocle.
Pickles: “Monocle!”
Dr. Teddy: (sighs) Class dismissed.
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