OpenAI's stock market debut looks likely to slip into 2027 as a fresh trade secret lawsuit from Apple stacks legal risk onto an already wavering offering. Key Points: Apple's Jul. 10 lawsuit
OpenAI's stock market debut looks likely to slip into 2027 as a fresh trade secret lawsuit from Apple stacks legal risk onto an already wavering offering.
- Apple's Jul. 10 lawsuit accuses OpenAI of taking hardware trade secrets through former staff.
- Analysts say the legal fight makes a 2026 listing unlikely and points to a 2027 debut.
- OpenAI is holding out for a $1 trillion valuation and has resisted a faster, cheaper listing.
Apple filed the complaint on Jul. 10 in federal court in Northern California, accusing the AI company of a pattern of theft tied to unreleased consumer hardware. The suit namesTang Tan, OpenAI's chief hardware officer and a former Apple design chief, along with former engineer Chang Liu and the hardware unit io Products.
Court papers claim the pair carried confidential files and coached recruits on dodging Apple's exit security checks with an internal offboarding guide. OpenAI bought Jony Ive's design firm for about $6.5 billion last year and now employs more than 400 former Apple staff. The company says it has no interest in rivals' trade secrets, a sharp turn from its 2024 deal to weave ChatGPT into the iPhone and Siri.
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On a markets broadcast, host Kenny Polcari pressed Hennion & Walsh chief investment officer Kevin Mahn and Neostellar Capital principal Willy Lee on the fallout. Mahn argued the case dims the odds of a 2026 debut for OpenAI, and possibly for rival Anthropic, which filed its own confidential paperwork in June.
Lee said Apple looks exposed after missing the first leg of the AI race.
The iPhone maker still lacks a large language model of its own, he noted. By contrast, OpenAI reaches close to a billion weekly users and holds the distribution to reach consumers directly, a lever Apple has long guarded.
The offering had wavered before Apple sued. OpenAI submitted a confidential draft to regulators on Jun. 8, then advisers pressed Sam Altman to choose between a slower listing near $1 trillion or a faster debut this fall at a lower mark.
Reports say Altman rejected any cut below that target.
The delay talk had already rattled markets before the suit landed. SoftBank, a major backer, slid in Tokyo after reports of a 2027 slip, while a bumpy June debut from SpaceX cooled investor appetite for the year's giant tech listings.
That standoff had already anchored OpenAI above its $852 billion private valuation from March, when it closed a $122 billion funding round. The lawsuit now hands the company one more reason to wait, turning a fight over price into a fight over the courtroom.
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