OpenAI's Brockman Says Company Could Be IPO-Ready in 2027, Calls Enterprise Now 'Majority' of Revenue

Since OpenAI confidentially filed draft IPO paperwork with the SEC in June and the listing slid toward 2027, the company has said little publicly about timing. That changed Wednesday, Nov. 4.

Speaking at a Wall Street Journal technology conference in Napa, California, president and co-founder Greg Brockman was asked by the Journal's Keach Hagey whether OpenAI would be IPO-ready next year. "I think so. Yes," he said.

He was careful about what that meant. "We want to go public when we feel is the right time for us," Brockman said, adding he had "never felt more confident" in the business. Readiness is not a commitment. He gave no listing date, exchange, offering size or price.

A rough first half, then a jump

Brockman did not dress up the early part of 2026. "Q1 was pretty rough, Q2 was pretty rough," he said. "It felt like in many ways we were not even in the conversation."

The conversation he meant was agentic coding, where Anthropic's Claude Code gained ground. "We had Codex, but no one was talking about it," Brockman said.

Then the third quarter. Brockman said OpenAI's annualized revenue grew 70% quarter over quarter and that the enterprise side of the business doubled. He described it as the result of earlier investment, not a one-quarter event: "It wasn't an accident but we worked hard on it."

One caution on the number. That is growth in annualized run rate, not reported quarterly revenue. Brockman gave no absolute revenue, profit or audited figure.

Enterprise is now the bigger business

Brockman said enterprise customers once made up only about 30% of revenue. "A year ago we were not really in the enterprise game," he said. "We were perceived as a consumer company but it is so so different today. Now we are somewhere around majority enterprise."

He said consumer revenue has kept growing. Enterprise just grew faster. He did not give the exact split.

He also disclosed a deal not previously announced: a partnership with JPMorgan Chase that he described as "just papered." The bank is set to use Codex and OpenAI's cybersecurity models. No contract value or rollout schedule was given.

For OpenAI, the pitch is a business-software story rather than a consumer-app story. A regulated bank signing on is the kind of reference customer that helps make it.

The money side is less tidy

The Journal reported Oct. 30 that OpenAI has secured about $11 billion in commitments in its current funding round, well short of the $30 billion it sought. The round values the company at roughly $1.25 trillion, below the $1.4 trillion it had targeted. The Journal tied the weaker demand to investor worries about the sustainability of massive AI spending and a broader selloff in tech stocks.

According to the Journal, OpenAI has told shareholders it will seek more money in the coming weeks from family offices and wealthy individuals, aiming for as much as $20 billion.

That is the strongest counterweight to Brockman's confidence. Revenue growth is one thing. Investors writing checks at the asking price is another, and so far the checks have been smaller than planned.

The market has noticed OpenAI's slide toward 2027 before. SoftBank, an OpenAI investor, saw its shares fall as much as 13% in June when Bloomberg first reported the listing could slip to next year. Bloomberg also reported at the time that CEO Sam Altman was holding out for a $1 trillion valuation.

Anthropic likely goes first

OpenAI's main rival is expected to reach public markets ahead of it. Anthropic filed confidentially for its own IPO in June, and Reuters expects it to list before the end of 2026. Reports put it on the Nasdaq under the proposed ticker ANT.

Brockman has a personal stake in how this plays out. Testifying earlier this year in Elon Musk's trial against OpenAI, he confirmed the company was exploring an IPO and said his own stake was worth nearly $30 billion.

The next concrete markers are close. OpenAI's additional fundraising push is expected over the coming weeks, and Anthropic's debut is expected before year-end. How much money OpenAI can raise at what valuation, and how Anthropic trades, will set the terms for any OpenAI listing in 2027.