Anthropic IPO: Claude Maker Reportedly Targets Second Straight Quarter Of Adjusted Profit As CEO's AI Slowdown Call Sparks Debate

• Anthropic reportedly expects to post adjusted operating profit for a second straight quarter as revenue accelerates.
• The Claude maker's adjusted profitability excludes major costs, drawing criticism from short seller Jim Chanos and Oracle's Matt Asay.
• Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei recently called on the industry to slow the pace at which it improves AI capabilities.

Anthropic reportedly told investors it expects to remain profitable on an adjusted basis this quarter as the Claude maker prepares for a blockbuster initial public offering that could value the company at $2 trillion or more, according to the Financial Times. 

The five-year-old AI startup has also chosen Nasdaq as the venue for its planned listing, according to the report, which cited people familiar with the matter.

Anthropic is claiming profitability in terms of adjusted operating income, which excludes costs including stock-based compensation. Anthropic's gross margins are above 80% before accounting for revenue shared with distribution partners such as Amazon and the cost of training its AI models, the FT reported.

Anthropic's Profitability Claims Draw Skepticism

Anthropic sells Claude through distribution platforms, sharing a portion of the revenue with those partners and reducing what it ultimately retains. Meanwhile, training frontier AI models requires enormous computing power, with those costs also excluded from the quoted 80% gross margin.

The profitability claim drew mockery on X. Famed short seller Jim Chanos, responding to the FT report, simply wrote“Cost-Adjusted EBITDA,” poking fun at the extensive adjustments used to present the business as profitable.

Matt Asay, Oracle's vice president of investor relations, was more direct, writing that Anthropic“weren't and aren't” profitable and accusing the company of using a“made-up accounting fiction for profitability.” 

Asay nevertheless acknowledged that Anthropic is“an amazing business,” highlighting the distinction between its rapid growth and conventional profitability. 

Oracle is a major cloud vendor for Anthropic's chief rival, OpenAI.

Anthropic's Revenue Jumped 14-Fold  

Anthropic's adjusted operating profit came as revenue surged 14-fold year-over-year to $11.5 billion in the second quarter. Its annualized revenue reached $65 billion at the end of July, up sharply from $9 billion at the end of 2025.

Investors are reportedly forecasting that Anthropic could end 2026 with $120 billion in annualized revenue and approach $360 billion by the end of 2027.

On Stocktwits, the retail sentiment for Anthropic was 'bullish' as of early Monday.

Anthropic's AI Slowdown Call Sparks Industry Debate

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei recently called on the industry to slow the pace at which it improves AI capabilities, citing concerns about increasingly powerful models and their potential consequences.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk have echoed calls for a more deliberate approach, while others have pushed back against slowing the development race. 

The debate creates an unusual backdrop for Anthropic's IPO, with investors now having to assess not only the company's extraordinary growth and spending on AI infrastructure but also how a potential slowdown could affect future revenue and costs.

A slower development cycle could reduce the billions of dollars required to train increasingly powerful models, but it could also give rivals an opportunity to narrow Anthropic's lead.

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