OpenAI Could File For IPO On Friday: How The Musk Lawsuit Unlocked Acceleration

OpenAI could file confidentially for an initial public offering as soon as Friday, a dramatically faster timeline than the artificial intelligence giant had signaled, the Wall Street Journal reported today.That is far more aggressive than what OpenAI had signaled before. CFO Sarah Friar had reportedly been targeting a filing in the second half of 2026, with the actual listing slipping into 2027.For public investors, the most direct read-through is Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), which holds roughly 27% of OpenAI from its October recapitalization, a stake valued at about $135 billion. An early listing would hand Microsoft a liquidity valve at a time when it is funding enormous capital spending of its own.The plans remain fluid and could still change, the people familiar with the matter said.A Major Roadblock Just ClearedThe sudden urgency follows OpenAI’s legal win this week over co-founder turned rival Elon Musk, a fight the company had treated as a serious obstacle to going public. Musk has said he plans to appeal.The deeper pressure is a scramble for the same pool of money. OpenAI, Musk’s SpaceX, and rival Anthropic are all eyeing public listings this year, and there is only so much investor capital to go around. Whoever files first gets to soak it up before the others reach the market.The odds of OpenAI beating Anthropic to IPO first have skyrocketed today, from 30% yesterday, to 78% today. OpenAI’s March funding round closed at an $852 billion valuation, and a public debut could push it toward the $1 trillion mark.The Cash Burn Behind The RushThe compressed timeline may not be just a victory lap over Musk, it could also reflect financial pressure. OpenAI’s own projections point to a roughly $14 billion net loss in 2026, the cost of the infrastructure, model training, and compute needed to keep its services running.OpenAI heads toward the public markets with real questions hanging over it. The company recently missed its own internal targets for revenue and user growth, and Friar has privately warned that ballooning compute costs could outpace the money coming in. It has also weathered a steady drain of senior talent, including the 2025 exits of CTO Mira Murati and chief scientist Ilya SutskeverImage: ShutterstockMarket News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs© 2026 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.To add Benzinga News as your preferred source on Google, click here.