Editorial illustration for OpenAI Could Be IPO Ready in 2027, Says President Greg Brockman
OpenAI Could Go Public in 2027, Says President
Greg Brockman put a date on it. Speaking at a Wall Street Journal tech conference on Wednesday, OpenAI's co-founder and president said the company could be ready to go public as early as 2027, pointing to a year of enterprise revenue growth that turned around what had been a sluggish start to 2026.
The admission was notable given how rough that start was. Brockman said OpenAI's first and second quarters this year were weak, and the company found itself on the back foot in agentic coding, an area Anthropic's Claude Code came to dominate. OpenAI had its own product, Codex, but Brockman conceded nobody was paying attention to it while Anthropic made inroads with enterprise customers.
That changed by the third quarter, when OpenAI's annualized revenue grew 70% quarter over quarter, driven largely by its enterprise business doubling. Brockman framed the turnaround as the product of sustained work rather than a single quarter's breakthrough, setting up his case for why an IPO timeline now looks realistic. Asked directly whether OpenAI could be ready next year, his answer was blunt.
“We’ve been very clear this year that we want to go public when we feel is the right time for us, and I feel extremely good about the business. I feel like we’ve made so much progress this year, and I’ve honestly never felt more confident in what we’re doing,” Brockman said.
Why this matters
A 2027 IPO target from OpenAI's own president is a real signal, not idle speculation, and it reframes how we should read the company's enterprise push. Brockman's framing, that Codex went unnoticed before the 70% quarterly revenue jump, tells us OpenAI is now managing its story for investors as much as for developers. For founders building on top of these models, that's worth watching closely: a company gearing up for public markets tends to prioritize predictable revenue lines over experimental tools, which could shape pricing, API stability, and which products get resourced.
For researchers, it's a reminder that OpenAI's roadmap is increasingly answerable to enterprise customers and, soon enough, shareholders, not just the research agenda. Anthropic's head start in enterprise sales clearly stung enough to prompt this public catch-up narrative, which suggests the competitive pressure between the two labs is now as much about quarterly numbers as model capability. We'd treat "IPO ready" as aspirational rather than locked in, but the direction is unmistakable: OpenAI is building the financial profile of a company preparing to answer to public markets.
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Common Questions Answered
When does OpenAI's president Greg Brockman say the company could be ready for an IPO?
Greg Brockman stated at a Wall Street Journal tech conference that OpenAI could be ready to go public as early as 2027. This timeline comes after the company experienced enterprise revenue growth that reversed a sluggish start to 2026, with particularly weak performance in the first and second quarters.
What challenges did OpenAI face in the first half of 2026 according to Brockman?
OpenAI experienced weak performance in its first and second quarters of 2026 and found itself at a disadvantage in agentic coding, an emerging area of AI development. Despite these early setbacks, the company managed to turn things around with significant enterprise revenue growth later in the year.
How much did OpenAI's quarterly revenue increase according to the article?
OpenAI achieved a 70% quarterly revenue jump, which Brockman highlighted as a major turnaround from the company's sluggish start to 2026. This substantial growth demonstrates the company's recovery and progress throughout the year, contributing to Brockman's confidence about the potential 2027 IPO timeline.
What does Brockman's confidence about the IPO timeline suggest about OpenAI's business strategy?
Brockman's statement indicates that OpenAI is now managing its narrative for investors as much as for developers, signaling a shift toward prioritizing predictable revenue lines as the company prepares for public markets. This reframing is significant for founders building on OpenAI's models, as it suggests the company will increasingly focus on enterprise revenue streams and investor-friendly metrics.
Further Reading
- OpenAI, ready to IPO in 2027, now counts majority of sales from enterprises, Brockman says - Reuters
- OpenAI president Greg Brockman says company could be IPO ready in 2027 - Yahoo Finance
- OpenAI will be ready for an IPO in 2027, says Greg Brockman - The Next Web
- OpenAI president sees readiness for 2027 IPO - El-Fondo
