OpenAI is heading to the stock market too — here's the simple version

Just after Anthropic did the same, OpenAI — the company that makes ChatGPT — has taken its first step toward the stock market. Here's what that means, kept simple.

On 8 June 2026, OpenAI announced on X (formerly Twitter) that it had confidentially filed the early paperwork (a 'draft S-1'). 'Confidential' simply means the detailed money pages aren't public yet — that's a normal, allowed way to begin.

You'll see very large figures attached — reports suggest somewhere between $730 billion and nearly $1 trillion. Here's the honest bit: those numbers vary a lot depending on which outlet you read, precisely because the official filing is private. So nobody can say the exact figure yet, and we won't pretend otherwise.

Not right now. ChatGPT keeps working exactly as it does today. Going public is about who owns and funds the company, not about how the product behaves. If OpenAI does list later in 2026, ordinary people might eventually be able to buy shares — but there's nothing for you to do about it now.