OpenAI is laying the groundwork for a public listing in the fourth quarter of this year, people familiar with the matter said, accelerating its plans as competition with rival Anthropic intensifies. The $500 billion startup is holding informal talks with Wall Street banks about a potential initial public offering, people familiar with the matter said, and is growing its finance team. That includes the hire of a new chief accounting officer, Ajmere Dale, and a new corporate business finance officer, Cynthia Gaylor, who will oversee investor relations. It is expected to be a blockbuster year for stock-market debuts after a recent drought, and some on Wall Street are speculating that 2026 could be the biggest year ever for IPOs. OpenAI, rival Anthropic and SpaceX are among the most closely watched tech darlings that could go public, though listing activity also has picked up for smaller companies.

Full report : OpenAI is laying the groundwork for an IPO in Q4 2026, and its executives have privately expressed concerns about Anthropic beating OpenAI to an IPO.