Stock markets under pressure: OpenAI could postpone its IPO until 2027

However, given the recent market turbulence and the price losses of technology stocks, advisors warned last week of low demand from retail investors. They would have given management the choice of waiting until 2027 to go public in order to get the benefits of OpenAI-Chef Sam Altman to reach its required valuation of $1 trillion, or lower the target for a quicker debut. However, moving away from this amount is out of the question for Altman, said one of the insiders.

Investors increasingly questioned whether companies from the sector Artificial Intelligence (AI) It was said that they could fulfill their great promises. The development at SpaceX is also seen as a deterrent example: the space company from Tesla CEO Elon Musk had recently completed the largest IPO in history. However, the stock slipped to $153 by Thursday after peaking at $202.

A “victim” of the OpenAI rumors is on Friday Softbank. The Japanese investment company’s shares fell sharply by 12.4 percent in Tokyo on Friday. The reason is obvious: how finanzen.net reports, the technology group led by Masayoshi Son is one of the largest investors in OpenAI and has invested billions in the AI ​​pioneer in recent months. Loud Bloomberg Investments are expected to amount to around $65 billion by October. A later IPO would not change the long-term value of the investment, but could postpone the timing of possible increases in value and the expectations of the capital markets.

Concerns about high valuations surrounding artificial intelligence are back, writes market observer Thomas Altmann from asset manager QC Partners. There is also concern about a shortage of memory chips. “The mood is currently changing. Investors are generally becoming more cautious. Risk aversion is increasing.”

Mood killer

Price increases at Apple and Microsoft are also weighing on the mood. Apple has raised prices for some devices in response to memory chip costs rising during the AI ​​boom. MacBook laptops and iPad tablets are affected – as well as HomePod speakers and the streaming box Apple TV. The iPhone prices leaves Apple initially unchanged.

Microsoft makes its Xbox game consoles significantly more expensive. Prices should rise by $100 to $150 (88 to 132 euros) worldwide starting August 1, the company announced on Thursday. The reason for this is component prices that have been driven up by the needs for artificial intelligence (AI).

In the USA, the cheapest model – the Xbox Series S – will cost $500 in the future. The Series X will even cost up to $800. The new prices for Europe were not initially mentioned. The Series X currently costs around 600 euros.

The entire consumer electronics industry is currently affected by price increases for technical components: in the past few months there have also been Sony and Nintendo raised the prices of their game consoles.