The SEC Should Block Anthropic's IPO to Protect the Public
Tech Policy Press published an op-ed on November 2, 2026, by Matt Scherer of the Open Markets Institute. <cite index="1-7">The piece asks the SEC to hold Anthropic's listing until the company produces audited financial statements covering two back-to-back quarters and fully discloses its spending obligations.</cite> <cite index="14-2,14-3">Anthropic filed its public S-1 on October 26, proposing a Nasdaq listing of its Class A shares under the ticker ANT.</cite>
Scherer's central complaint is that <cite index="1-6">the prospectus includes only unaudited results for the period of greatest revenue growth, moves its most significant future obligations into footnotes, and keeps adding new commitments as the IPO approaches.</cite> <cite index="20-8">The amended filing says Anthropic has entered into purchase commitments and lease agreements with an aggregate committed spend of approximately $895.4 billion, substantially all related to compute and infrastructure.</cite> <cite index="23-8">About $447.5 billion of that hits before December 31, 2030, and $69.8 billion is due over the next 12 months.</cite> <cite index="19-3">Revenue for the nine months ended September 30 reached $33.24 billion</cite>, while <cite index="23-5">the September quarter posted an operating loss of $536 million, compared with operating income of $974 million in the June quarter.</cite>
The legal hook is the SEC's power to delay a registration statement that is <cite index="9-5">incomplete or inaccurate in any material respect</cite>. <cite index="9-2">New York City Comptroller Mark Levine sent Anthropic a letter asking it to pause the offering, which was expected in November.</cite>
Why it matters
For founders and operators, the dispute shows that disclosure quality can shape IPO timing as much as market demand does. Obligations that sit in footnotes can become headline numbers within weeks, and a regulator can ask for more before a registration takes effect. <cite index="21-6,21-7">Fortune tallied $657 billion across the arrangements in the first public filing, and said $498 billion, or 76% of their dollar value, was noncancelable.</cite> Companies signing long compute contracts should expect investors to ask which payments are binding.
