OpenAI, the artificial intelligence company behind ChatGPT and one of the most anticipated public offerings in recent memory, is pushing back its initial public offering timeline, CNBC reported, citing sources familiar with the company’s deliberations. The delay adds fresh uncertainty to what would likely rank among the largest technology listings in market history, at a moment when investor appetite for AI-adjacent equities remains broadly elevated but volatile.

The company, which was last privately valued at approximately $300 billion following a major funding round earlier this year, had been widely expected to pursue a public listing within a compressed window. However, according to the CNBC report, internal discussions and structural complexities surrounding OpenAI’s ongoing corporate reorganisation from a capped-profit model to a more conventional for-profit entity have contributed to the revised schedule. Regulatory considerations and the sheer complexity of pricing a business with limited conventional earnings metrics are also understood to be factors in the decision.

Traders on Kalshi, the regulated prediction market platform, have moved quickly to price the new probability landscape. With OpenAI’s IPO now in question for 2026, the majority of active contracts on Kalshi as of late June assigned roughly a 38 percent probability to a formal IPO announcement occurring before the end of the first quarter of 2027, with a further 29 percent of market volume concentrated on a second-quarter 2027 window. Fewer than 15 percent of traders appeared to be pricing in any announcement before December 2026. Those figures reflect real money, not mere sentiment surveys, making them a notably sharper instrument than traditional analyst forecasts for events of this nature. Readers already familiar with Kalshi’s mechanics may have traded on the platform around other recent market events.

The delay arrives at a delicate juncture for capital markets more broadly. Institutional allocators have been reassessing risk positioning across equities, with the U.S. Stock Market Sees First Outflow Since March, Raising Fears of a Risk-Off Summer dynamic adding a cautious undertone to any prospective mega-cap listing. A prolonged IPO drought at the top of the AI sector could have downstream effects on venture-backed technology valuations, which remain highly sensitive to public market comps.

OpenAI’s Chief Financial Officer has previously signalled the company was exploring pathways to the public markets, but stopped short of committing to a specific timeline. The organisation is simultaneously managing a landmark investment relationship with Microsoft, which holds a substantial revenue-sharing stake and whose own strategic interests may influence the pace of any listing process.

For investors watching the AI sector, the postponement reinforces a recurring theme: transformative technology companies with non-standard financial profiles require more preparation time than traditional issuers, regardless of market enthusiasm. Until OpenAI files a prospectus, prediction market data from platforms like Kalshi may remain the most granular real-time signal available to the public on when that milestone actually arrives.