NYU Professor Gary Marcus Says OpenAI Could Become the ‘WeWork of AI’ After IPO Delay
New York University (NYU) professor emeritus Gary Marcus warned that OpenAI could become the WeWork of AI. He tied the comparison to a delayed initial public offering for a company last valued at $852 billion.
The warning matters for Nvidia (NVDA) shareholders and AI infrastructure lenders. A markdown at OpenAI could spread through chip demand and financing costs. Marcus said sentiment, not fundamentals, would drive the damage.
Does a Delayed IPO Make OpenAI the ‘WeWork of AI’?
OpenAI filed confidentially for a listing in June, then CEO Sam Altman ruled out 2026. Its last private valuation came in a $122 billion round in March.
Reports of a new private round cite valuations from $1.2 trillion to $1.4 trillion. Onchain markets have pushed the Anthropic pre-IPO valuation above $1 trillion, again without a public price to test it.
WeWork is the precedent Marcus invoked. Its 2019 filing showed almost $700 million in first-half losses. A $47 billion private mark then fell toward $10 billion within weeks.
Marcus noted that WeWork never completed its IPO. It did list through a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) merger in 2021, then filed for bankruptcy in 2023.
Who Sets the Price if OpenAI Waits?
Anthropic is lining up a November listing ahead of OpenAI. Marcus said it still wants about $1.5 trillion, though he cited reports nearer $1.1 trillion. That compares with the $2 trillion target circulating a month earlier.
Reuters reported OpenAI’s revenue reached $13 billion in 2025. Marcus has put its operating losses near $2 billion a month.
Neo clouds, newer firms that rent out AI computing capacity, face the sharpest exposure, Marcus said. Their financing is getting costlier.
Anthropic’s debut could set the yardstick for roughly $600 billion of projected OpenAI hardware spending through 2030. The same yardstick could apply to the chipmakers and lenders behind it. A strong Anthropic debut would cut against the thesis.
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