Rich Duprey
4 min read
Quick Read
-
Altman declared a 2026 IPO “ill-advised,” prioritizing safety and alignment over what had been a potential $1 trillion public listing.
-
Rival Anthropic plans to go public before year-end at a valuation potentially reaching $2.3 trillion, while OpenAI now targets 2027.
-
Altman signaled a potential industry pact to slow AI development, as an Anthropic researcher put extinction-level AI odds above 10% within a decade.
-
Just released. Our analysts combed the entire stock market and named the ten best stocks to buy right now. The report is free. Enter your email and see if any of your stocks made the cut.
OpenAI is delaying its public offering past 2026. In a September 12 interview with Fortune, Sam Altman said the timing is wrong, the risks are rising, and the industry may soon coordinate to slow itself down.
Asked directly about an offering that had been shaping up as one of the largest in market history, Altman said “right now would be an ill-advised moment to go public” and confirmed “not 2026” when pressed on timing. OpenAI had spent much of the year exploring a listing that could have valued the company at $1 trillion, before pausing the effort in June. The delay lands as rival Anthropic plans to go public before the end of the year at a valuation some believe could reach $2.3 trillion. On the Pomp Podcast this week, investor Jordi Visser said “Bitcoin (CRYPTO:BTC) is around a $2 trillion asset. So is SpaceX, Anthropic, and I think OpenAI. That’s $8 trillion of things that none of them make money.” Altman tied the pause directly to the technology’s trajectory. He said OpenAI needs to 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” and that “society needs to contend with these models at each level of capability.” Free Report, Just Released The Top 10 Stocks To Buy Now 24/7 Wall St has helped investors make money for over two decades, and our top analysts just finished ranking the definitive Top 10 Stocks To Buy Now. Not the ten biggest companies. Not the ten everyone is arguing about. The ten best stocks to buy right now. The report is free, and you can see why we think each stock is a top investment today. Enter Your Email and See the Ten → He also flagged the governance problem inside OpenAI’s dual non-profit and for-profit structure, saying the company must “make decisions that are not obviously in the interest of our business and our shareholders for the responsibility of fulfilling our mission.” Public shareholders would complicate that math. 
Safety and Alignment Cited as the Real Reason
