OpenAI IPO Doubts Mount as VC Calls Anthropic Listing a 'Blockbuster'

A venture capitalist publicly questioned OpenAI's commitment to going public while labeling rival Anthropic's eventual IPO a "Blockbuster," Yahoo Finance reported.

The investor's split view of the two leading independent AI labs came in pointed phrases. "Not Really Sure They Mean It," the VC said of OpenAI's stated public-market ambitions, per Yahoo Finance. The same source voiced sharper conviction on Anthropic, the rival artificial-intelligence lab, calling its anticipated listing a Blockbuster.

Why does the split matter?

Yahoo Finance's framing places the comments inside a wider pattern of allocators questioning OpenAI's IPO path. Limited partners and institutional investors have grown increasingly skeptical that OpenAI will reach public markets before Anthropic. The order of their public debuts will shape how U.S. exchanges price generative-AI exposure for the first time.

What is the VC actually saying?

The two quoted phrases do the analytical work. "Not Really Sure They Mean It" reads as quiet skepticism toward OpenAI's repeated public signaling. "Blockbuster" reads as a confident forecast for Anthropic's reception. Together, they amount to one insider's clearest public split between the two AI leaders.

Yahoo Finance did not name the venture capitalist. The report leaves open whether the comments stem from direct diligence on either company or from broader market read-throughs. The investor's anonymity preserves plausible deniability but does not soften the verdict.

What changes if Anthropic goes first?

An Anthropic debut would become the first major independent generative-AI lab to test public-market multiples. A Blockbuster reception would reset institutional appetites for the entire AI capital-expenditure cycle, much of which has so far been financed privately by strategic backers and growth-stage venture funds.

If OpenAI follows Anthropic onto the exchanges, its larger private valuation would set the comparables. The order matters because no public-market peer currently trades at the multiples embedded in either company's preferred shares.

What comes next?

The "Not Really Sure They Mean It" line lands as a reminder that OpenAI controls its own disclosure calendar. A public offering remains optional, not imminent. The "Blockbuster" call on Anthropic suggests that when Anthropic does file, the underwriter book will be heavily oversubscribed.

Both stories remain unwritten. What is now written is that at least one major Silicon Valley allocator no longer treats the order as a toss-up — and is publicly placing a bet on Anthropic arriving first.