Wall Street Questions Whether Markets Can Absorb IPOs from Anthropic, SpaceX, and OpenAI

Three companies are preparing to enter the public markets in a compressed window that has no modern precedent. SpaceX filed its S-1 confidentially on April 1 and plans to begin its roadshow as early as June 4, targeting a valuation of $1.75 trillion to $2 trillion and a capital raise of up to $75 billion [1]. OpenAI, which closed a $122 billion funding round in March at an $852 billion valuation, is targeting a public listing as early as September 2026 [2]. And Anthropic filed its own confidential S-1 on June 1, fresh off a $65 billion Series H that lifted its valuation to $965 billion, with an October debut as the base case [3].

Combined, these three companies would introduce roughly $3.6 trillion in market capitalization to public investors — and potentially draw more than $200 billion in new capital from institutional and retail buyers in a single calendar year [4]. The question keeping dealmakers and portfolio managers awake is straightforward: Can the market handle it?

A Scale Without Precedent

Source: Renaissance Capital, Company Filings

Data as of Jun 3, 2026CSV

The numbers make the historical comparison stark. Saudi Aramco's 2019 listing raised $25.6 billion, making it the largest IPO ever [5]. Alibaba raised $25 billion in 2014 [5]. Meta raised $16 billion in 2012 [5]. SpaceX alone is targeting $75 billion — roughly three times the Aramco record. If OpenAI and Anthropic each raise $50 billion to $75 billion in their own offerings, the combined fundraising for the trio could exceed $200 billion, more than double the entire U.S. IPO market in 2025 [4].

Source: Company Filings, TechCrunch

Data as of Jun 3, 2026CSV

The valuation gap is even more striking. At Alibaba's IPO, the company was valued at $231 billion — roughly one-fifth to one-tenth of SpaceX's target [6]. The public markets have simply never absorbed a trillion-dollar IPO where real liquidity was the goal, let alone three of them in sequence.

The Revenue Multiple Question

Source: Company Filings, Analyst Estimates

Data as of Jun 3, 2026CSV

Each of these companies carries a valuation that implies sustained, aggressive growth for years. SpaceX generated $18.7 billion in revenue in 2025, meaning its $1.75 trillion target implies a price-to-sales ratio near 94x [7]. OpenAI, generating roughly $24 billion in annualized revenue, trades at approximately 35x forward revenue — a multiple that Bridgewater partner Greg Jensen has told clients is "priced for a monopoly outcome that does not yet exist" [2]. Anthropic, with a revenue run-rate of $47 billion as of May 2026, is at roughly 20x revenue, the most modest of the three [3].

For context, Meta went public at roughly 26x revenue and Arm at 22x [8]. Snowflake's 2020 IPO at 175x revenue remains the high-water mark, but Snowflake was a $3.4 billion company, not a trillion-dollar one [8]. The question for public shareholders is what revenue compound annual growth rate (CAGR) these multiples require. A 35x multiple for OpenAI, for example, implies revenue growth of roughly 40-50% annually for the next five to seven years — a pace that is achievable for a $24 billion business but historically rare to sustain as companies scale past $100 billion in revenue. Companies that IPO'd at comparable multiples in the 2020-2021 window — Snowflake, Confluent, HashiCorp — have delivered mixed results, with many trading well below their IPO prices within three years.

Is There Enough Institutional Capital?

The supply side of the equation matters as much as the demand. U.S. public pension funds hold roughly 46% of their portfolios in public equities [9]. Private equity dry powder stands at $3.7 trillion globally, though that capital is designated for private deals, not public market IPOs [10]. The relevant pool is institutional allocations earmarked for large-cap technology — mutual funds, index funds, and sovereign wealth funds with mandates to hold public equities.

Jim Cramer captured the concern bluntly on CNBC: "I fear Anthropic, OpenAI, and SpaceX IPOs will suck capital out of the market" [11]. The mechanism is simple — investors who want to participate in these offerings need to sell existing holdings to raise cash. For a $75 billion SpaceX offering alone, that selling pressure could ripple through the Magnificent Seven stocks and the broader Nasdaq.

There is, however, a structural offset. Nasdaq introduced a "fast entry" provision allowing large newly public companies to qualify for the Nasdaq-100 after only 15 trading sessions [1]. If SpaceX qualifies, index funds tracking the Nasdaq-100 and S&P 500 would be required to buy shares, creating automatic demand. A larger float would give SpaceX a higher weighting, triggering more passive buying. This index inclusion mechanism did not exist for most historical mega-IPOs and could absorb a meaningful portion of the new supply.

Source: FRED / S&P Dow Jones Indices

Data as of Jun 2, 2026CSV

The S&P 500 itself, trading near 7,600 and up 28% year-over-year, provides a favorable backdrop. Rising markets generate wealth effects that increase investors' capacity and willingness to participate in new offerings. But a market correction during the IPO window could dramatically change the calculus.

The Lockup Pressure

SpaceX has structured an unusual lockup arrangement that departs from the standard 180-day cliff. Instead of a single date when all insiders can sell, SpaceX's S-1 describes a tiered system [12]:

• After SpaceX publishes Q2 results, 20% of eligible insider shares unlock, with an additional 10% if the stock has risen 30% above the offering price
• Five time-based tranches at 70, 90, 105, 120, and 135 days each free up another 7% of eligible shares
• Another 28% unlocks with Q3 earnings, and the remainder at 180 days

The practical effect is nearly six months of continuous potential insider selling — a dynamic with no clear precedent at this scale [12]. Elon Musk himself remains locked up and cannot participate in any early-release provisions [12].

For OpenAI and Anthropic, lockup details have not been disclosed. But both companies have large pools of early investors and employees sitting on enormous unrealized gains. Anthropic's valuation has risen from roughly $4 billion in early 2023 to $965 billion — a 240x increase for Series A investors [3]. The selling pressure when those lockups expire could be substantial.

Why Go Public at All?

This is the steelman case for skepticism. If these companies are genuinely worth $150 billion to $1.75 trillion each, their controlling shareholders have access to a private capital market that has shown a nearly limitless appetite for AI exposure. OpenAI raised $122 billion in a single private round [2]. Anthropic raised $65 billion [3]. Sovereign wealth funds from Abu Dhabi, Saudi Arabia, and Singapore have been willing to accept lower returns in exchange for access to these companies.

The answer lies partly in scale. OpenAI expects to spend roughly $115 billion over the next four years on compute and infrastructure [13]. Anthropic is reportedly paying SpaceX about $1.25 billion per month for computing capacity [11]. These costs increasingly exceed what even the largest private rounds can sustainably fund. Public markets offer not just capital but also ongoing access to low-cost financing — secondary offerings, convertible bonds, credit facilities backed by public equity [13].

There is also the employee liquidity question. After years of rapid hiring in a competitive AI labor market, thousands of employees hold options and restricted stock that are effectively illiquid. An IPO provides a market for those holdings, which is both a retention tool and, in many cases, a contractual expectation.

Structural Market Changes Since 2021

The last major IPO cycle — the 2021 SPAC boom, when 613 SPACs raised $162 billion [14] — reshaped the market in ways that affect how these listings will trade. Retail options activity has grown substantially, and zero-day-to-expiration (0DTE) options now account for a significant share of daily market volume. This creates the potential for amplified moves in newly public stocks, particularly around earnings and lockup dates.

The SEC under Chair Paul Atkins has signaled a more permissive approach to capital formation, reducing compliance burdens for emerging growth companies [14]. Enhanced SPAC disclosure rules adopted in 2024 have also improved market confidence in the IPO process by aligning de-SPAC transactions with traditional IPO standards [14].

Index fund rebalancing mechanics are another factor. The rise of passive investing means that any company added to a major index triggers billions in automatic buying. Conversely, existing index members whose weight is diluted by a large new addition face proportional selling pressure — a second-order effect that could hit current tech megacaps.

International Precedents and Lessons

Foreign markets have tested mega-IPO absorption before, with mixed results. Saudi Aramco's 2019 listing was originally envisioned as a global offering, but Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's $2 trillion valuation target was rejected by international investors, who valued the company between $1.1 trillion and $1.7 trillion [6]. The offering was ultimately confined to the domestic Tadawul exchange, where it floated only 1.5% of shares — and six years later the float is still just 2.4% [6].

Alibaba's 2014 NYSE listing fared better, starting with a 15% float that expanded to 86% as founders and early investors exited over the following years [6]. The key difference: Alibaba offered real liquidity from the start, while Aramco used the IPO primarily as a political statement rather than a true capital markets event.

Arm Holdings' 2023 listing in New York — after abandoning a dual-track London listing — demonstrated how venue choice matters. Arm chose the deeper, more liquid U.S. market specifically because London's capital pools were insufficient for a listing of its scale [15]. SpaceX, OpenAI, and Anthropic all appear headed for U.S. exchanges, which is the right venue from a depth standpoint, but the question is whether even U.S. markets can handle three simultaneous draws of this magnitude.

Regulatory Tripwires and Timeline Reality

The realistic timeline for these listings faces several regulatory hurdles. SpaceX is furthest along, with its S-1 filed and a June 12 target date [1]. OpenAI's S-1 filing is expected in Q3-Q4 2026, with investment banking sources suggesting a potential listing in late 2026 or early 2027 [2]. Anthropic, having just filed confidentially on June 1, is targeting October 2026 [3].

Each company faces distinct regulatory risks. SpaceX holds government launch contracts and national security clearances that invite scrutiny from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) and the Department of Defense. OpenAI's ongoing restructuring from a nonprofit to a for-profit entity has drawn attention from state attorneys general and could complicate its S-1 review. Anthropic faces fewer structural governance issues but, like OpenAI, must navigate revenue recognition questions — specifically, how to account for AI compute contracts where usage patterns, pricing tiers, and consumption credits create ambiguity under ASC 606 accounting standards [16].

All three companies operate in sectors where the DOJ and FTC have active investigations. The DOJ has challenged tech acquisitions and licensing agreements in the AI space, and any new enforcement action during the quiet period could delay or complicate a listing [17].

Dual-class share structures, which all three companies are expected to adopt, add another layer. The SEC requires prominent disclosure of multi-class voting rights, and institutional investors — particularly index fund providers — have grown increasingly resistant to dual-class structures in recent years. S&P removed dual-class companies from the S&P 500 in 2017 before partially reversing that policy, and the current rules create uncertainty about index eligibility for these listings.

The Bull and Bear Cases

The bull case rests on demand. These are, by several measures, three of the most consequential technology companies founded in the past two decades. Retail investors who watched these companies grow in private markets are eager to participate. Institutional investors face career risk from not owning them. And passive index inclusion could create structural demand that partially offsets supply concerns. CNBC's Jim Cramer, despite his liquidity concerns, called Anthropic "a money maker" and predicted its stock would rise from the opening price [11].

The bear case rests on arithmetic. Combined fundraising of $200 billion in a single year would represent an unprecedented draw on equity capital. The revenue multiples require growth rates that few companies in history have sustained at this scale. And the staggered lockup expirations create a rolling supply of insider selling that could weigh on prices for months after each listing.

The most likely outcome is somewhere between: strong initial demand driven by scarcity and brand recognition, followed by price discovery that is messier and more volatile than the private market valuations suggest. The market's depth will be tested — and the answer will shape how the next generation of technology companies approach the transition from private to public.