The numbers come first. Anthropic PBC reported preliminary second-quarter revenue of more than $11.5 billion, according to documents seen by Bloomberg News — a figure that represents at least a 14-fold jump versus the $787 million the company posted in the same period a year ago. For context, Q1 2026 came in at $4.73 billion, meaning the company nearly tripled its top line in a single quarter.
The same documents show Anthropic recorded positive adjusted operating income in Q2 — a milestone that matters to investors who have watched AI companies burn capital at industrial scale. Deliberations are ongoing and the figures could be revised, Bloomberg noted. A representative for Anthropic declined to comment.
The run-rate race
Anthropicʼs annualized revenue, or run rate, crossed $47 billion in May. That puts it ahead of rival OpenAI, which Bloomberg News reported carries an annual run rate of over $40 billion — though the two figures may not be calculated the same way. The gap, however measured, signals that the company once dismissed as an underdog in the AI race has moved decisively into the lead on revenue momentum.
The engine behind the surge is enterprise adoption. Professionals across industries have accelerated their use of Claude to automate coding, drafting and analysis workflows — exactly the kind of sticky, recurring corporate spend that commands premium multiples in public markets.
The IPO pipeline
Anthropicʼs investor roadshow is already underway. The company filed confidentially for a public listing and is working with Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. on the offering, Bloomberg has reported. A fall debut would place Anthropic in the public markets before both OpenAI and DeepSeek, the Chinese AI firm that is also preparing an IPO filing as soon as this year.
The broader IPO market has responded to the AI boom with force. Listings in 2026 have raised $256.4 billion year-to-date, excluding blank-check firms and other financial vehicles, according to Bloomberg-compiled data — the most raised in a single year since 2021.
CEO Times take
This is free enterprise working exactly as it should. Private capital flowed into Anthropic when the technology was unproven; disciplined execution converted that bet into $11.5 billion in quarterly revenue and, critically, positive operating income. The public markets are now being invited to participate in value that was already created — not subsidized by the taxpayer, not conjured by a regulator.
The race between Anthropic, OpenAI and DeepSeek is the defining capital-allocation contest of this decade. American firms hold the lead today. Keeping it will require that Washington resist the temptation to layer AI with the kind of compliance overhead that has historically handed competitive ground to less-regulated rivals abroad. The market has already voted on who builds better models. Policymakers should be careful not to override that verdict.
