Secondary markets declared a new leader in the foundation model race on April 24. Anthropic shares were trading at an implied valuation of approximately $1 trillion on Forge Global, a private secondary marketplace, according to multiple financial news reports. OpenAI shares traded at approximately $880 billion on the same platform.
Both figures are secondary market implied valuations, not primary funding round prices. They are non-binding, can shift daily, and reflect what private investors are willing to pay for existing shares, not what either company has raised at. That distinction matters. Keep it in frame.
Still, the inversion is real and new. For three years, OpenAI held a consistent premium over Anthropic on every valuation metric. That gap has closed, and, as of this week, reversed.
The revenue signal underneath the valuation
Anthropic reported an annualized revenue run rate of approximately $30 billion as of March 2026, according to company-disclosed figures, up from roughly $9 billion at the end of 2025. If those figures are accurate, the trajectory represents more than a tripling of Anthropic’s revenue run rate in a single quarter. The $30 billion figure is company-reported, not independently audited; treat it as a directional signal, not a certified result.
The math does hold internally. $9 billion to $30 billion is a 233% increase, assuming both figures are accurate as stated. What the secondary market appears to be pricing is the velocity of that trajectory, not just the absolute number.
Where this leaves Anthropic against its last primary round
Anthropic’s last confirmed primary market valuation was approximately $380 billion, set during its February 2026 Series G funding round. The $1 trillion secondary market implied valuation represents a substantial premium over that figure, roughly 2.6 times the Series G price. Secondary market premiums of this magnitude typically reflect either genuine conviction about growth trajectory or thin liquidity with limited sell pressure. At this stage, the evidence supports both interpretations.
OpenAI’s last reported primary round context puts its secondary market price of $880 billion at a significant premium to earlier primary valuations as well. The specific claim that OpenAI is trading at a “3% premium over its last primary round” could not be independently verified from available evidence, that framing has been omitted.
What to watch
Secondary market prices at this level create their own dynamics. Employees and early investors holding shares face decisions about liquidity. Large secondary trades can move implied valuations sharply in either direction. Watch for: any primary round announcement from either company that would set a binding market price; any change in Forge Global’s reported trading volume for Anthropic shares; and whether the $30 billion revenue run rate holds through Q2 2026 reporting.
TJS synthesis
The Forge Global data point is one snapshot, not a settled verdict. But it is a meaningful one. Anthropic’s secondary market surge to $1 trillion, against a February 2026 primary valuation of $380 billion, signals that sophisticated private market participants are pricing in a fundamentally different trajectory than existed six months ago. The revenue run rate figure, even with its caveats, provides the structural basis for that repricing. Enterprise buyers and investors watching the Claude-versus-GPT competitive dynamic now have a market signal worth tracking: the secondary market, at minimum, no longer treats OpenAI as the unchallenged frontrunner.