Altman rules out OpenAI IPO in 2026, citing safety

Altman rules out OpenAI IPO in 2026, citing safety

A listing that has been among Wall Street's most anticipated is pushed off to at least 2027. Sam Altman calls going public now "ill-advised" – while SoftBank simultaneously upsizes its loan financing to $11.87 billion for its OpenAI bet.

What Altman said

OpenAI will not go public in 2026. In an interview with Fortune published Saturday, September 12, chief executive Sam Altman said that "right now would be an ill-advised moment to go public," and when pressed on the timing, he confirmed "not 2026" (24/7 Wall St., source 83a8480a). CNBC described the decision as a delay of one of history's most anticipated listings to at least 2027, calling it the clearest signal yet that concerns about ever more powerful AI are beginning to reshape the industry's business plans (source 31df9e51).

Altman tied the delay directly to safety and alignment, according to the reports: OpenAI must focus on "meeting this moment of what is going to be required for safety and alignment, and how the industry and governments can work together," he said, and "society needs to contend with these models at each level of capability" (24/7 Wall St., source 83a8480a). According to the same source, he also suggested that public shareholders would complicate decisions that are not obviously in the immediate business interest. It should be emphasized that all quotes are relayed via CNBC's and 24/7 Wall St.'s accounts of the Fortune interview – the interview itself is not available here.

A new timeframe – and a pause that began in June

The message is not entirely new internally. OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar told employees last month that the company would likely go public in 2027 or even sooner, if "our business continues to inflect" (CNBC, source 31df9e51). OpenAI had, through much of the year, explored a listing that could value the company at $1 trillion, before the work was paused in June (24/7 Wall St., source 83a8480a). Note that valuation figures vary across media coverage, and none of them are confirmed.

Coinciding with Amodei's call to slow down

Altman's comments came the same day Anthropic's chief executive Dario Amodei published an essay urging AI companies to slow the pace of improvement of their most advanced models. Altman and Elon Musk quickly backed the proposal on social media – a rare diplomatic agreement among three bitter rivals, as CNBC describes it (source 31df9e51). It is worth clarifying that this is an essay and expressed support, not a formal agreement between the companies.

Money flows in parallel

While the listing is delayed, private financing is in full swing. On September 14, Bloomberg (via The Japan Times) reported that SoftBank secured a loan of $11.87 billion over two years from around 20 banks to support its OpenAI investment – an increase from the original target of $10 billion. The information comes from people familiar with the matter, and SoftBank declined to comment (source daa51d0e).

SoftBank, led by Masayoshi Son, is set to invest close to $65 billion in OpenAI by October, and has already this year raised the equivalent of around $37 billion through bond issuances abroad and in Japan as well as loans, according to data compiled by Bloomberg (source daa51d0e). In other words: OpenAI does not depend on the capital markets right now.

What remains unresolved

Several things remain uncertain. 2027 is Altman's and Friar's indication – not a confirmed date, and there is no formal announcement or filing. The $1 trillion valuation is an unconfirmed figure from the reports, and Anthropic's listing timing is not officially known; the speculation about a valuation of up to $2.3 trillion is exactly that – speculation. But the core of the news is clear: One of the largest planned IPOs in history has been postponed, officially citing safety and alignment – and OpenAI is still being funded at record pace through private channels.