Anthropic IPO: Valuation expert Aswath Damodaran has valued Anthropic, the company behind the Claude artificial intelligence models, at $1.475 trillion, placing his estimate below the lower end of the widely discussed $1.5 trillion to $2 trillion range for its anticipated initial public offering (IPO).
Damodaran’s valuation highlights the uncertainty surrounding the AI company's future, with its worth depending on revenue growth, profitability, computing capacity and its ability to maintain a premium position in the market.
In his latest blog, Damodaran warned that the company's valuation could change significantly once its shares begin trading. “Given AI's presence in the economy and markets, I can guarantee you that it will be a roller coaster.”
With no directly comparable listed AI company to serve as a benchmark, Damodaran's valuation rests on the potential size of the AI market and the share Anthropic can capture.
“I believe that AI will have the power to disrupt some industries, and that its most powerful (and highest priced) models will displace white collar (and highly paid) employees, yielding an end market size of $5 trillion or greater for its products. In my view, and that is based on a very early reading of the AI business today, Anthropic is aiming for the premium portion of the market and looks like a leader in that portion of the market,” Damodaran wrote.