Anthropic Tells Investors It Expects Second Straight Profitable Quarter as It Picks Nasdaq for IPO

Anthropic has told a small group of shareholders that it expects to post positive adjusted operating income for a second consecutive quarter, according to the Financial Times, as the AI company moves toward an initial public offering on the Nasdaq that could value it at roughly $2 trillion. The figures were first reported by the FT, and CNBC separately reported, citing two sources familiar with the matter who asked not to be named because the details are confidential, that Anthropic has told some shareholders it will generate an operating profit for a second straight quarter. CNBC also confirmed that Anthropic has selected Nasdaq as its listing venue, a choice Business Insider reported first.

What Anthropic told investors

According to a summary of the FT's reporting carried by aiweekly.co, Anthropic's preliminary second-quarter revenue topped $11.5 billion, roughly 14 times the year-earlier level, alongside about $559 million in adjusted operating profit. TradingView reported the same 14-fold revenue surge and noted that Anthropic's annualized revenue reached $65 billion at the end of July, up from $9 billion at the end of 2025 — a level CNBC said is consistent with its own prior reporting of an approximately sevenfold year-over-year increase. Using the aiweekly.co figures, the move from Q1 revenue of $4.73 billion to preliminary Q2 revenue of $11.5 billion is a difference of $6.77 billion, or about 143% growth quarter over quarter ((11.5 − 4.73) / 4.73 × 100), by our calculation. Separately, the $9 billion end-2025 and $65 billion end-July annualized figures cited by TradingView differ by $56 billion, equivalent to roughly 7.2 times the earlier level (65 / 9), also by our calculation.

The figures shared with prospective investors are preliminary and were disclosed in private-market briefings rather than filed as audited results. Aiweekly.co and moneymorning.com both describe the numbers as private-market disclosures, with moneymorning.com cautioning readers to "treat it as a serious company briefing its own money, not audited gospel."

Adjusted operating income, not GAAP profit

The profitability claim rests specifically on adjusted operating income, a non-GAAP measure. TradingView reported that this metric "excludes costs including stock-based compensation," and moneymorning.com similarly noted that adjusted operating income "strips items like stock-based compensation." Anthropic's gross margins are described as above 80%, but both outlets reported, citing the FT, that the figure is calculated before revenue shared with distribution partners such as Amazon and before the cost of training new models is deducted — meaning the headline margin is measured before two cost items rather than after them, and the sources do not quantify either.

Nasdaq listing, valuation and timing

CNBC confirmed Anthropic has picked Nasdaq as its exchange after Business Insider's initial report. The company was valued at $965 billion earlier this year, confidentially filed its IPO prospectus in June, and has been widely expected by CNBC's sourcing to list as soon as next month, potentially at a valuation of $2 trillion or more. Aiweekly.co reported separately that Nvidia is in talks to anchor the IPO with an investment of up to $10 billion. For context on scale, CNBC noted SpaceX went public in June in the biggest IPO on record and is now valued at $2 trillion, the same figure now attached to Anthropic's IPO speculation.

Investors are reportedly forecasting further acceleration: TradingView reported that Anthropic could end 2026 with $120 billion in annualized revenue and approach $360 billion by the end of 2027. By our calculation from those two figures, that implied path is a $240 billion increase, or 200% growth ((360 − 120) / 120 × 100), though these are forward-looking investor expectations relayed by TradingView rather than confirmed company guidance, and neither figure has been independently verified.

Skepticism over the profitability framing

The disclosure drew immediate pushback. TradingView reported that short seller Jim Chanos responded to the FT report by writing simply "Cost-Adjusted EBITDA," mocking the extent of the adjustments used to present the business as profitable. Oracle's vice president of investor relations, Matt Asay, was more direct, writing that Anthropic "weren't and aren't" profitable and calling the framing a "made-up accounting fiction for profitability," while still conceding Anthropic is a strong business, per TradingView's reporting. Moneymorning.com added that public-market investors will likely demand GAAP revenue, the true cost of chips and power, disclosure of cash already committed to cloud and silicon partners, and clarity on customer concentration before crediting the margin claim, framing the open questions as "partner share, training costs, stock-based pay, and whether the green line holds once public GAAP and the next model cycle hit together."

How it compares with OpenAI

The contrast with Anthropic's chief rival is notable. CNBC reported that OpenAI has also confidentially filed an IPO prospectus but says it will not list before next year; CEO Sam Altman told Fortune that "right now would be an ill-advised moment to go public," and finance chief Sarah Friar reportedly told employees at an all-hands meeting that OpenAI "will be a public company in 2027." CNBC also reported that OpenAI told investors in February it is targeting roughly $600 billion in total compute spend by 2030, a figure that dwarfs the multibillion-dollar compute deals CNBC said Anthropic has signed this year with Nscale, AMD, SpaceX and Google. Neither Anthropic nor OpenAI commented for CNBC's story.

A complicating backdrop

CNBC reported that the profitability disclosure lands just as Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei published an essay urging the AI industry to slow the pace of model capability gains, proposing a three-step plan intended to temper development speed without "sacrificing commercial advantage or the United States' lead in AI," in his words as quoted by CNBC. TradingView framed this as forcing investors to weigh Anthropic's growth and infrastructure spending against the possibility that a slowdown could affect future revenue and costs, an interpretation worth noting as one of several factors investors appear to be weighing rather than a settled outcome.

Bottom Line

Anthropic's private disclosures to prospective investors point to a company scaling revenue at extraordinary speed and posting a second straight quarter of adjusted operating income, according to the Financial Times' reporting as relayed by CNBC, TradingView, aiweekly.co and moneymorning.com. But the profitability metric excludes stock-based compensation, the cited 80%-plus gross margin excludes partner revenue share and model-training costs, and the figures remain preliminary and unaudited. Whether that adjusted picture survives contact with GAAP accounting and public-market scrutiny after a Nasdaq listing, expected as soon as next month, is the question critics like Chanos and Asay have already raised, and one that will likely dominate diligence around any eventual $2 trillion valuation.