OpenAI stock is languishing in the resale market, as investor interest shifts to competitor Anthropic.

Why are OpenAI shares cold in the secondary market, and how are investor preferences shifting?

IT Home, April 2 — According to Bloomberg on the evening of April 1, OpenAI’s attractiveness in the secondary market is declining, making it difficult to sell in some transactions. Investors are rapidly turning to its main competitor, Anthropic.

Ken Smith, founder of Next Round Capital, said that demand for OpenAI shares on the platform has significantly weakened. In recent weeks, about six institutional investors have contacted the platform, hoping to sell approximately $600 million (IT Home note: approximately 4.13B RMB at current exchange rates) worth of OpenAI shares. This includes large holdings by hedge funds and venture capital firms.

Compared to last year, the situation is markedly different. Back then, these shares could usually be sold within a few days, but now almost no buyers are stepping in.

Smith stated, “Among hundreds of institutional investors, we can’t find any buyers willing to take these shares. The buyers have already indicated they have $2 billion in funds ready to invest in Anthropic.”

Other trading platforms, including Augment and Hiive, have also observed record-high demand for Anthropic. Adam Crowley, co-founder of Augment, said that the valuation gap between OpenAI approximately $852 billion (about 5.87 trillion RMB at current exchange rates) and Anthropic around $380 billion (about 2.62 trillion RMB) is prompting investors to accelerate their focus on the latter. “Currently, the risk-return profile is better. Investors are betting that Anthropic’s valuation will catch up to OpenAI’s, but short-term returns from buying OpenAI shares are uncertain.”

Both Anthropic and OpenAI do not permit secondary market trading without permission, but investors can still acquire related rights through special purpose vehicles and other means.

An OpenAI spokesperson said, “Any institution claiming to be able to acquire OpenAI equity, including through SPV arrangements, should exercise extreme caution. We have recently established authorized channels allowing individuals to participate in investments, including through banking channels. This is fee-free to counter high-cost intermediary models.”

Sources familiar with the matter said that banks, including Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, have begun offering OpenAI shares to wealth clients without taking a cut, while Goldman Sachs still charges about 15% to 20% in standard commissions for investments in Anthropic.

On Tuesday, local time, OpenAI announced the completion of its largest funding round, raising $12.2 billion, with sources including tech companies, venture funds, and retail investors.

Both companies have grown rapidly in recent years. Especially after OpenAI launched ChatGPT in 2022 and Anthropic introduced Claude, both are evaluating plans to go public, with OpenAI potentially listing as early as this year.

Some investors are becoming cautious about OpenAI’s rising operating costs. OpenAI’s future infrastructure investments will surpass those of Anthropic, and progress in expanding into high-margin enterprise markets has been slower. Crowley said that Anthropic has an advantage in this area, leading to stronger growth performance.

Meanwhile, Anthropic also faces challenges. The company is involved in a lawsuit over being designated as a supply chain risk and banned by the U.S. Department of Defense. Additionally, this week, Anthropic experienced another security issue, with Claude’s source code being leaked unexpectedly for the second time within a few days.

Next Round data shows that OpenAI’s current valuation based on its quoted price is about $765 billion, roughly 10% below its previous $850 billion valuation.

Crowley said that market demand for Anthropic is significantly higher.

Both Augment and Next Round have observed that Anthropic’s buying activity has driven its valuation to about $600 billion, an increase of over 50% from the previous funding round. Hiive co-founder Prabhu Rattan said the platform has recorded demand for over $1.6 billion worth of Anthropic shares, with similar premiums.

Crowley stated, “This level of demand is among the highest we’ve seen, almost unlimited.”