OpenAI Targets Q4 IPO as ChatGPT Pivots to Enterprise Applications

OpenAI may launch an initial public offering (IPO) by the end of the year, and the company is focusing on enterprise applications as it does so, CNBC reported Tuesday (March 17).

Fidji Simo, OpenAI’s CEO of applications, said last week at a company meeting that the OpenAI is “orienting aggressively” toward high-productivity use cases and that it will convert its customers into high-compute users by “transforming ChatGPT into a productivity tool,” according to the report, which cited a partial transcript of the meeting.

CNBC also reported, citing an unnamed source, that OpenAI could launch its IPO by the fourth quarter. It added that the timing could change.

OpenAI did not immediately reply to PYMNTS’ request for comment.

The Wall Street Journal reported on OpenAI’s all-hands meeting Monday (March 16) and said Simo previewed the company’s new strategy in which it will pause all “side quests” to focus on coding and business users.

“We cannot miss this moment because we are distracted by side quests,” Simo said, according to remarks seen by WSJ. “We really have to nail productivity in general and particularly productivity on the business front.”

OpenAI is facing increased pressure from competing startup Anthropic, which has become the go-to AI provider for business following the success of its Claude Code and Cowork offerings, per the WSJ report.

It was reported Jan. 29 that OpenAI was accelerating plans for a potential IPO as soon as the fourth quarter, positioning it for a high-profile debut just as rivals move to reach the public markets first.

At that time, it was reported that the company was “laying the groundwork” for a fourth-quarter listing, had begun informal discussions with Wall Street banks, and had been expanding its finance team by hiring a chief accounting officer and a corporate business finance officer who will oversee investor relations.

OpenAI announced on Feb. 27 that it raised $110 billion in new funding from Amazon, Nvidia and SoftBank, in one of the largest private capital raises in technology history.

The company said at the time that it was serving more than 900 million weekly active users, including over 50 million paying consumer subscribers and more than 9 million business users.