Anthropic: $17 billion in sales in 3 months, but a $567 million operating loss

In brief

• Revenue (the money from sales) for the third quarter of 2026, Q3: $16.956 billion.
• Operating loss (sales minus running costs): $567 million in Q3, against a profit of $974 million in Q2. Anthropic gives two causes.
• Net loss (everything included, debt revaluations among it): $23.291 billion in Q3, a figure of a different nature, explained below.
• Purchase and lease commitments: about $895.4 billion in total, of which about $447.5 billion before the end of 2030.

Red pen, second read

I already covered the 26 October S-1 (the stock-market listing filing): Q3 was only given as 86 times the revenue of the last quarter of 2024, and the total of commitments was a sentence with a hole in it. My calculation back then, a rule of three on that figure: about $16.9 billion. The S-1/A (a corrected version of the same filing, submitted before the listing) says 16.956. Not bad for a back-of-the-envelope calculation.

The quarter, side by side

Revenue: $1.382 billion in Q3 2025, $11.555 billion in Q2 2026, $16.956 billion in Q3 2026. Anthropic writes +1,127% in one year, i.e. about 12.3 times Q3 2025 (our calculation: 16,956 ÷ 1,382), or $184 million per day (our calculation: 16,956 ÷ 92 days).

Why the quarter turns red

To explain the swing from a $974 million profit to a $567 million loss, Anthropic cites two main causes:

• $5.0 billion of compute bought under short-term commitments, compute that "currently costs significantly more" than the one bought under multi-year commitments.
• $2.0 billion of non-cash charges, meaning booked in the accounts without any payment in money, tied to the donation program: employees can pledge part of their shares to charities, and Anthropic matches with shares.

Compute (computing power rented or bought) costs $9.863 billion in Q3 (July-September) against $5.558 billion in Q2 (April-June): $58 for every $100 of sales, against $48 (48: our calculation). The "adjusted operating income" (Anthropic's own measure, which sets aside stock-based pay, non-cash donations and a legal settlement) still rises to $2.463 billion against $2.235 billion, but its margin falls from $19 to $15 per $100 of sales, mainly because of the $5.0 billion.

Nine months and net loss

Over nine months (January to September 2026): sales of $33.2 billion against $2.5 billion a year earlier, operating loss of $1.3 billion against $5.2 billion.

The net loss, the bottom line of the accounts, also counts what is not the business: debt revaluations, interest. It is $23.291 billion in Q3 and $104.039 billion over nine months. Most of it is not operations: the change in value of convertible notes (debts the lender can turn into shares), derivative liabilities and SAFEs (promises of future shares in exchange for cash) weighs $21.936 billion in Q3. Anthropic attributes it mainly to the rising value of these notes as its valuation goes up, with a peak in Q2, during a big funding round, Series H.

Commitments and cash, as a funnel

A commitment is a signed contract: compute purchases, data-center leases. Total as of 30 September and after:

• about $895.4 billion in total, almost all for compute and infrastructure (spent at $1 million a day, it would take about 2,450 years: our calculation, an image);
• of which about $447.5 billion before 31 December 2030, almost all the rest between 2031 and 2045;
• of which about $69.8 billion in the 12 months after 30 September 2026.

On 30 September: $95.6 billion of cash and $36.3 billion of short-term investments, against $112.4 billion and $19.3 billion on 30 June in the S-1. About $213.8 billion of the total depends on agreements that can be terminated or on conditions.

The safety paragraph that moved

The Responsible Scaling Policy (RSP) is the document where Anthropic writes how it monitors risks as it approaches what it calls "recursive self-improvement". The text adds that its models do a growing share of its research work. New risk factor: its internal estimates about future models, not its current models, indicate it "may imminently meet" the RSP's definition of "dramatically accelerated progress attributable to AI". No current model is designated as exceeding that threshold. It is also considering updating the RSP to require human review and approval of certain research decisions.

An addition for individual investors

Part of the shares will be offered to individuals through Charles Schwab, Fidelity, Robinhood, Trade-PMR, SoFi and E*TRADE from Morgan Stanley.

What we don't know yet

The price per share, the number of shares and the date: the cover-page boxes are still empty. The "ANT" symbol on Nasdaq (the US stock exchange) was already in the S-1.

Words to remember

• Non-cash: written in the accounts with no money going out.
• Commitment: a signed contract that obliges you to pay later.
• Convertible note: a debt the lender can convert into shares.

Source sheet

Anthropic, PBC, filing with the SEC, accepted on 02/11/2026 at 14:24:24 UTC. The S-1/A · the 26/10 S-1

Source passages

Documents read on 02/11/2026. Line numbers refer to the archived copy of each document.

Show the 11 sources

Ref.	Quote (original language)	URL
S1↑1↑2↑3↑4↑5	"revenue growing from $0 at commercial launch in the first quarter of 2023 to $17.0 billion for the three months ended September 30, 2026" ; "revenue that grew 1,127% year over year for the three months ended September 30, 2026" ; quarterly table: Revenue 1,382 (Q3 2025), 11,555 (Q2 2026), 16,956 (Q3 2026) ; "a decrease of approximately $600 million from price reductions introduced as part of new model versions and contractual discounts"	https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/2130357/000162828026068676/anthropicpbc-sx1ax1.htm
S2↑1↑2	"revenue for the three months ended September 30, 2026 was 86 times our revenue for the three months ended December 31, 2024" ; "an aggregate committed spend of more than $ , substantially all of which is related to compute and infrastructure" (amount left blank) ; "As of June 30, 2026, we had raised an aggregate of $141.1 billion of capital and had cash and cash equivalents of $112.4 billion and short-term investments of $19.3 billion"	https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/2130357/000162828026067168/anthropicpbc-sx1.htm
S3↑1↑2↑3	"Our operating loss was $567 million for the three months ended September 30, 2026, compared to an operating income of $974 million for the three months ended June 30, 2026, primarily driven by $5.0 billion of compute under short-term commitments, which currently costs significantly more than comparable compute procured under our multi-year commitments, and $2.0 billion of non-cash charges related to our donation matching program" ; "increased to 58% for the three months ended September 30, 2026" ; table: Compute and infrastructure 5,558 (Q2), 9,863 (Q3) ; "employees can pledge a meaningful portion of their equity awards toward charitable giving, which we match with shares of our Class N common stock"	same as S-1/A
S4↑	"Adjusted Operating Income increased for the three months ended September 30, 2026 to $2.5 billion compared to $2.2 billion for the three months ended June 30, 2026, while Adjusted Operating Margin decreased from 19% for the three months ended June 30, 2026 to 15% for the three months ended September 30, 2026, primarily driven by the $5.0 billion of short-term compute noted above" ; "We define Adjusted Operating Income (Loss) as operating loss excluding (i) stock-based compensation expense, (ii) non-cash charitable contributions, and (iii) the Bartz settlement" ; table: 2,235 (Q2), 2,463 (Q3)	same as S-1/A
S5↑	"Our revenue was $33.2 billion for the nine months ended September 30, 2026, up from $2.5 billion for the nine months ended September 30, 2025. Our operating loss was $1.3 billion for the nine months ended September 30, 2026, down from $5.2 billion" ; "Adjusted Operating Income, which was $4.1 billion for the nine months ended September 30, 2026, up from an Adjusted Operating Loss of $3.1 billion"	same as S-1/A
S6↑1↑2↑3	table: Net loss (23,291) Q3 2026 ; (104,039) nine months 2026 ; Change in fair value of convertible notes, derivative liabilities, and SAFEs (21,936) Q3, (94,324) nine months ; "primarily driven by increases in the fair value of our outstanding convertible promissory notes resulting from increases in our enterprise valuation during each period. The expense was largest in the three months ended June 30, 2026, reflecting the increase in our enterprise valuation in connection with our Series H financing" ; Adjusted Net Income 3,167 (Q3)	same as S-1/A
S7	"We generated positive cash flows from operating activities of $6.6 billion for the nine months ended September 30, 2026"	same as S-1/A
S8↑1↑2↑3↑4	"an aggregate committed spend of approximately $895.4 billion, substantially all of which is related to compute and infrastructure. These commitments include approximately $447.5 billion expected to be incurred before December 31, 2030, and substantially all of the remainder is expected to be incurred between 2031 and 2045. Approximately $69.8 billion of these commitments are due in the 12 months following September 30, 2026" ; "Approximately $213.8 billion of the aggregate total of our contractual obligations relates to arrangements that are subject to either exercisable termination rights or contingent conditions prior to commencement, such as the counterparty's ability to secure financing, facilities, or regulatory approvals" ; "cash and cash equivalents of $95.6 billion and short-term investments of $36.3 billion"	same as S-1/A
S9↑1↑2↑3	"our internal estimates and our expectations regarding future models, rather than our current models, indicate that we may imminently meet our Responsible Scaling Policy's definition of "dramatically accelerated progress attributable to AI." We have not designated any of our current models as exceeding this threshold, and we continue to assess the underlying data" ; "We are also considering additional measures, including updates to our Responsible Scaling Policy, to require human review and approval of certain decisions in our research and development processes as our models perform an increasing share of that work" ; "which sets out our plans to monitor and mitigate the risks as we approach what has been termed "recursive self-improvement.""	same as S-1/A
S10↑	"a portion of the shares of Class A common stock offered hereby will, at our request, be offered to retail investors through Charles Schwab & Co., Inc., Fidelity Brokerage Services LLC and Fidelity Capital Markets, a division of National Financial Services LLC, Robinhood Financial, LLC, Trade-PMR, Inc., SoFi Securities LLC, and E*TRADE from Morgan Stanley"	same as S-1/A
S11↑	"We have applied to list our Class A common stock on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol "ANT."" ; cover page: offering price ("Initial public offering price $ $") and number of shares left blank	same as S-1/A