OpenAI barrels toward IPO that may happen in September

OpenAI barrels toward IPO that may happen in September | TechCrunch

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In Brief

Posted:

10:24 AM PDT · May 20, 2026

Image Credits:Nathan Howard/Bloomberg / Getty Images

Julie Bort

OpenAI barrels toward IPO that may happen in September

A day after Elon Musk lost his lawsuit that threatened OpenAI’s structure, leadership, and finances, the AI giant is ready to move forward with its initial public offering, sources told the Wall Street Journal.

OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman reportedly hopes that his company will be ready to go public by September. The ChatGPT maker has been working with tech IPO powerhouse bankers Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, and may file IPO paperwork confidentially with regulators within days or weeks, per the WSJ.

The news of OpenAI’s potential IPO, which by all accounts should be a blockbuster, comes as the world awaits the public disclosure of SpaceX’s IPO filings, which are expected to appear as soon as Wednesday, according to reports. Rocket-maker SpaceX is, of course, now one of OpenAI’s major competitors, after it consumed Elon Musk’s model maker, xAI.

Now that Musk failed to skewer OpenAI, the competitor he co-founded, through the heart with a lawsuit, it looks like the next Musk vs. Altman battle will take place in the world of finance. Which one will be the bigger IPO?

OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Topics AI, Elon Musk, In Brief, IPOs, OpenAI, sam altman, Startups

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