OpenAI Secondary Shares Languish as Investors Turn to Anthropic

Secondary markets allow existing shareholders to resell stakes in private companies, with demand reflecting investors' views on valuations and potential returns from a future listing. Although ChatGPT gives OpenAI an edge in the consumer market, concerns have emerged over its expansion into the enterprise sector and its high computing and infrastructure costs. Anthropic's enterprise customer base, meanwhile, has made it an alternative bet seen as offering greater room for growth.

OpenAI completed a $122 billion financing on March 31, 2026, valuing the company at $852 billion. Next Round Capital, however, said six institutions had sought buyers in recent weeks for about $600 million of shares without success, while secondary-market bids implied a valuation of just $765 billion. Anthropic has $2 billion of queued buy orders and a market valuation of about $600 billion, more than 50% above the $380 billion valuation from its previous round.