Anthropic posts an operating loss and discloses $895 billion in obligations ahead of its IPO

Revenue is growing, but the company has returned to a loss

Anthropic, the American developer of the Claude models, posted revenue of $17 billion in the third quarter — 47% higher than the previous quarter and more than twelve times higher than a year earlier. At the same time, the company, as euronews reports, posted an operating loss of $567 million, versus a profit of $974 million in the second quarter. The company partly attributed this to $5 billion in spending on short-term computing capacity, purchased when demand exceeded the volumes under long-term contracts and which, according to the document, «currently cost significantly more». Another $2 billion consisted of non-cash expenses under the employee donation-matching program. Adjusted operating profit came to $2.5 billion (a margin of 15%, versus 19% the previous quarter), while the net loss reached $23.3 billion, compared with $12.1 billion a year earlier.

$895 billion in obligations and slowing growth

In its updated prospectus filed with US regulators, Anthropic disclosed purchase and lease obligations of roughly $895.4 billion — mostly for computing capacity. That is almost seven times more than the $131.8 billion in cash and short-term investments as of the end of September, although the obligations are spread over years: about $70 billion falls due within the next 12 months, about $450 billion by the end of 2030, and roughly $214 billion may be cancelled or are conditional. Over the first nine months, the loss amounted to $104 billion on revenue of $33.2 billion, but $94.3 billion of that sum was non-cash write-downs on convertible bonds that rose in value along with the company. Growth has meanwhile slowed after sales more than doubled from the first to the second quarter: the company had already warned investors about the slowdown in October with preliminary figures. The prospectus also estimates that 5–7% of nine-month revenue came from customers who violated usage rules or commercial terms, and that tighter enforcement «may reduce overall revenue and growth rates in future periods». The company added that it «may soon reach» its own threshold of «sharply accelerated progress driven by AI», warning of a «significant safety risk», although no current model has yet been deemed to have crossed that threshold.

What this means for the IPO

Anthropic published its prospectus on October 26 and plans to trade on Nasdaq under the ticker ANT, but the price range has not yet been set. Under US rules, a prospectus must be published at least 15 days before the roadshow begins, so the company could start offering shares to investors as early as next week and go public in the week beginning November 16. According to reports, some investors have lowered their valuation expectations to roughly $1.5 trillion from the previously discussed figure of about $2 trillion, amid a tech stock sell-off driven by concerns over AI spending. Even that valuation would be noticeably higher than the $965 billion set in the private funding round in May.