Anthropic Says It Turned an Adjusted Profit Ahead of Its Expected IPO
Anthropic is closing in on an IPO, and the two tech giants holding stakes in the AI startup stand to gain very differently when shares finally hit the market.
This post may contain links from our sponsors and affiliates, and Flywheel Publishing may receive compensation for actions taken through them.
Anthropic told potential investors on Wednesday that it “reached profitability on an adjusted basis during the quarter”, with Anthropic putting third-quarter revenue at $16.8 billion. The company declined to comment on the figures or on when it plans to list.
Its two largest listed investors, Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG | GOOG Price Prediction, NASDAQ:GOOGL) and Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), both fell that day. Alphabet closed at $347.64, down 1.74%, and Amazon closed at $254.08, down 1.74%.
The most valuable AI asset either company has is a business neither one controls. For shareholders, what matters is which company captures more of that value when Anthropic lists.
Adjusted Profit Sits Beside Large Reported Losses
Documents previously reviewed by Bloomberg showed Anthropic revenue of $386 million in 2024 and about $4.6 billion in 2025. The same documents showed an operating loss of more than $8 billion and a net loss of nearly $42 billion.
Adjusted measures usually exclude stock compensation and other noncash charges, so the claim tells you about the operating trend and little about bottom-line earnings. When the net loss is that much larger than the operating loss, the gap most likely comes from non-operating items such as fair-value changes on financing instruments.
Formal IPO marketing could start as soon as the week of November 9. Anthropic is aiming to trade before Thanksgiving and expects to list by year-end, although its plans are still fluid and the schedule could change.
On that timeline, both stocks could get a public mark on their stakes within weeks. Until shares trade, any valuation that potential investors suggest is only an opinion.
Alphabet Owns Upside Without Control
Court documents confirmed that Google has roughly 14% of Anthropic, and its contract caps the stake at 15%. The cap gives Alphabet upside without control.
Gemini competes directly with Claude, so the stake also protects Alphabet in part if a rival model disrupts its business. Alphabet’s second quarter included a $99 billion unrealized gain on equity securities. Even so, a 34% operating margin and 82% Cloud growth do more to drive the stock.
When it comes to Amazon, it invested about $8 billion starting in 2023 and has committed up to $20 billion more. Committed money earns an equity return only once it is actually invested. Amazon does not disclose its percentage.
Much of Amazon’s return comes through AWS. Anthropic has made a “multi-year, multi-gigawatt” commitment to Trainium chips, and AWS revenue rose 37% to $42.23 billion, its fastest growth in 18 quarters. The power, cooling, and networking suppliers behind that expansion keep showing up in our free AI infrastructure report.
Why Amazon Gains More From an Anthropic Listing
Amazon likely gets more of the value. With a market value near $2.74 trillion, versus about $4.33 trillion for Alphabet, an Anthropic stake of similar size would move Amazon’s value more. The Trainium contracts add to that gain.
Shareholders have already seen that value: Amazon booked a $53.4 billion pre-tax gain in the second quarter, mostly from Anthropic. The main risk is cash, since trailing free cash flow fell to -$7.6 billion after quarterly capex of $54.21 billion. A $496 billion AWS backlog gives that spending visible demand.
Alphabet offers a search and cloud business with a capped Anthropic option attached.
Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.
Omor Ibne Ehsan is a writer at 24/7 Wall St. He is a self-taught investor with a focus on growth, cyclical, and dividend equities that have strong fundamentals, value, and long-term potential. He also has an interest in high-risk, high-reward investments such as penny stocks.
