Anthropic IPO draft reportedly shows $16.3B revenue, $80.7B loss

Anthropic's revenue reached $16.3 billion in the first half of 2026, up from $1.1 billion a year earlier, according to a confidential draft IPO prospectus reviewed by The Wall Street Journal and reported Tuesday (Oct. 20).

The draft puts the first-half net loss at $80.7 billion, up from $13 billion a year earlier, Bloomberg reported, citing the Journal. Reuters, which said it also reviewed the draft, reported that $72 billion of the loss was an accounting charge reflecting a rise in the estimated value of bonds that could convert into Anthropic shares, rather than cash costs.

Anthropic didn't respond to a Reuters request for comment, Reuters reported. Anthropic confidentially submitted a draft S-1 to the SEC on June 1 and said, "The number of shares to be offered and the price have not yet been set."

No public S-1 exists yet. EngineerPal searched SEC EDGAR at about 5:05 a.m. ET Wednesday (Oct. 21) and found no Anthropic filing. It isn't known whether the Journal saw the June draft or a later version, and the figures could change before a public filing, which IFR reported is expected around Oct. 26.

What the reported $80.7 billion loss means

The $72 billion charge, roughly 90% of the reported loss by EngineerPal's math, isn't cash spent on running the business, according to the reports. It's linked to changes in the value of convertible notes and other financial instruments, according to ANI, citing the Journal.

Those instruments can later turn into Anthropic shares. As Anthropic's valuation climbed, their estimated value rose, and that increase shows up as a loss on Anthropic's books rather than as cash spent, Reuters reported.

Taking out the $72 billion leaves about $8.7 billion, by EngineerPal's arithmetic. That isn't a reported operating loss, and the Journal's operating figure wasn't available in the coverage we could read.

The same pattern showed up in 2025. Anthropic reported a $42 billion net loss on about $4.6 billion in revenue, including a roughly $34 billion accounting charge and an $8.06 billion operating loss, according to Reuters' September reporting on an earlier look at the draft.

Compute bills, big customers and founder control

The cash costs are real, too. Anthropic spent nearly $9 billion on compute in the first half, more than the $7.3 billion it spent in all of 2025, according to the Journal's reporting.

The draft lists about $450 billion in cloud agreements over seven to 10 years, including $111 billion with Google Cloud, $110 billion with AWS and $31 billion with Microsoft, the Journal reported. Anthropic could spend $750 billion on additional computing power in the coming years, Bloomberg reported, citing the Journal.

Most of those agreements are reportedly non-cancellable. "If our actual spend falls short, we must pay Google the difference," the draft said, according to Reuters.

Reuters' earlier figure of at least $518 billion covered all infrastructure, including equipment leases, so it measures something broader. Two unnamed customers accounted for about 20% of first-half revenue, the Journal reported.

Governance is the other big question. The draft gives a Founder LLC of Anthropic's seven co-founders 50.1% of voting power, Reuters reported in September. It also reportedly warns that advanced AI could pose "catastrophic or existential risks to humanity," according to Reuters.

Separately, Anthropic on Oct. 18 announced a Public Benefit Fund that would hold 5% of its shares, "subject to stockholder approval." A viral X claim about an odd page 32 risk factor has no source: no public filing exists, and none of the reporting on the draft mentions it.

No ticker, exchange, price range or share count has been confirmed, and Anthropic said in June that the offering "will depend on market conditions and other factors." The IPO could value Anthropic at $2 trillion, the Journal reported, though some investors are weighing about $1.5 trillion, Reuters reported. IFR reported a mid-November listing.