Anthropic targets a valuation above $2 trillion ahead of its IPO

Anthropic wants public markets to value it at more than $2 trillion. That would more than double the price tag private investors put on the company just a few months ago. The San Francisco-based AI developer, best known for its Claude family of models, made its pitch at a closed pre-IPO meeting for potential public-market investors. The headline number: third-quarter revenue of $16.8 billion, up 45% from the prior quarter, along with a claim that the business is now profitable on an adjusted basis. The numbers Anthropic put on the table Anthropic reported $4.7 billion in revenue for the first quarter of 2026, then $11.6 billion in the second quarter, then $16.8 billion in the third. Anthropic said it was profitable on an adjusted basis in the latest quarter and generated positive free cash flow. The company reported an adjusted gross margin of approximately 85% and an adjusted operating margin exceeding 11%. One caveat applies. “Adjusted” figures are numbers the company calculates by excluding certain costs, so they can look friendlier than standard accounting results. Anthropic also highlighted a compute efficiency figure of $1.70 in revenue for every dollar spent on computing. At...