Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley compete for lead underwriting positions on OpenAI and Anthropic IPO, potential gains may exceed $7 billion

According to Fortune, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are vying to be lead underwriter for future IPOs of OpenAI and Anthropic. Previously, Goldman Sachs had obtained lead underwriter for SpaceX's IPO, which is expected to take place on June 12. Both OpenAI and Anthropic IPOs are expected to raise at least US$60 billion, totaling more than US$120 billion. Jay Ritter, an IPO expert at the University of Florida, said that the investment bank that obtains the lead underwriter will determine how much IPO stock allocation each fund receives, so it can obtain potential returns that are much higher than other underwriters. Institutional investors typically pay lead underwriters large amounts of "soft dollars," or trading commissions in excess of actual execution costs, to secure more IPO placements, Ritter said. If it is not clear which Goldman Sachs or Morgan Stanley will get the lead underwriting position for OpenAI and Anthropic, the fund may invest more trading fees in both investment banks to improve the chances of getting the placement. Take SpaceXIPO, for example, if the financing scale reaches $86 billion, the underwriting fee is about $600 million. But a 20% gain on the first day would give IPO investors more than $17 billion in book gains, and Ritter estimates that at least 30% of that could flow back to investment banks in softdollars, or about $5 billion, far more than the underwriting fees themselves. If OpenAI and Anthropic both rise by 20% on their first day of listing, investors 'book income will reach US$24 billion. At the same proportion, investment banks may receive more than US$7 billion in softdollars, most of which will go to lead underwriters. Currently, both OpenAI and Anthropic have secretly submitted draft registration statements, but the launch time has not yet been determined.