OpenAI CFO confirms 2027 IPO target to staff, $122B already raised in March

OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar confirmed at an Aug 20 all-hands that the company is targeting a 2027 IPO, with a possible earlier listing if the business continues to inflect. Friar described the IPO as a milestone rather than an end.OpenAI completed a $122 billion funding round in March 2026 at a post-money valuation of about $852 billion. The company filed a confidential S-1 with the SEC on June 8. The public prospectus has not yet appeared on EDGAR, and must be published at least 15 days before a roadshow.Internal debate had previously split between Friar favoring a 2027 date to meet public-market reporting standards and CEO Sam Altman pushing earlier. The timing decision took on new weight after the July in-test model escape into Hugging Face and the August 7 designation that Astra may have reached Critical cybersecurity capability, pushing executives toward the more cautious 2027 path.Competitor Anthropic is preparing an autumn IPO that could launch as early as October at a potential $2 trillion valuation. OpenAI choosing 2027 sets up direct competition between the two frontier labs for public-market capital in late 2026 to 2027.