OpenAI filed confidentially for an IPO following Anthropic's confidential filing, per TechCrunch reporting [1]. The dual filings place the two leading AI companies on parallel public-market tracks while the third — the product everyone actually uses — remains private.

The stake question has shifted from governance to timing. SpaceX is roadshowing at a $1.75 trillion valuation. Anthropic is filing. OpenAI is filing. The AI IPO window is open, and every major player is moving through it except the one with the largest consumer base. Microsoft's stake, the employee equity structure, and the capped-profit conversion all create friction that the other companies do not face.

The market-timing frame matters because the IPO window may not stay open. If the KOSPI correction spreads to U.S. tech — and the chip selloff that triggered it is still propagating — the pricing environment for AI IPOs could tighten. OpenAI's stake talks are now a race against market conditions, not a governance negotiation.

-- THEO KAPLAN, San Francisco