TL;DRDatabricks CEO Ali Ghodsi said 2026 is “a terrible year to go public” as SpaceX, Anthropic, and OpenAI prepare to absorb over $200 billion in IPO capital. The $134 billion data company will wait for a quieter window.
Three companies are preparing to enter public markets this year with a combined valuation that could exceed $3 trillion. SpaceX is set to list as early as 12 June at a $1.77 trillion valuation, selling 555.6 million shares at a fixed price of $135 each in what will be the largest IPO in history. Anthropic has filed at a $965 billion valuation. OpenAI is preparing its own filing targeting up to $1 trillion.
Databricks, valued at $134 billion and widely expected to be among this year’s IPO candidates, has decided to sit it out. “We will be a public company,” CEO Ali Ghodsi told Bloomberg Television on Thursday. “I just think this is a terrible year to go public.”
The logic of stepping aside
Ghodsi’s reasoning is straightforward. When SpaceX, Anthropic, and OpenAI are collectively seeking to raise upwards of $200 billion from public investors, every other tech IPO risks being treated as a side show. Institutional allocation budgets are finite, and the three mega-offerings will consume a disproportionate share of them.
