WSJ What’s News - Anthropic Filing Heats Up a Blockbuster Year for IPOs

Episode Date: June 1, 2026

P.M. Edition for June 1. AI giant Anthropic has confidentially filed paperwork to go public, potentially as soon as this fall. WSJ Heard on the Street writer Asa Fitch discusses why it matters whether Anthropic or rival OpenAI make their stock market debut first. Plus, the Trump administration is signaling a retreat on its $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund, which met powerful pushback from members of Congress. And the top two movies at the box office this weekend were horror films made by Gen Z filmmakers. We hear from Journal entertainment reporter Ben Fritz about whether this represents a new pathway for Hollywood hits. Alex Ossola hosts. Sign up for the WSJ's free What's News newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How can working at your local Tims take you further? Sure, you can level up your teamwork skills. You also get a chance to receive a Tim Horton's scholarship award. Ready for what's next? Apply today at careers.timhorans.ca. Anthropic, the company behind the AI tool, Claude, files for an IPO. Plus, the Trump administration signals a retreat on its quote, anti-weaponization fund. And this weekend's box office shows the rising power of the Gen Z movie.

What we've actually learned this weekend is they will go to theaters, but they're really interested in creators and story ideas that emerge from the internet because that's what culture is to them. It's Monday, June 1st. I'm Alex O'Solev for the Wall Street Journal. This is the PM edition of What's News, the top headlines and business stories that move the world today. First up today, an update on the year that's shaping up to be all,

about blockbuster IPOs. Anthropic says it has filed confidential paperwork for an initial public offering that would put the company on a path to go public this fall. Anthropic makes the clawed family of AI models. It's valued at $965 billion, and it's emerged as a frontrunner in the AI wars. SpaceX's huge IPO is expected this month. Asa Fitch covers technology for WSJ's herd-on-the-street column, and he says there are several reasons why it matters whether Anthropic,

or its rival OpenAI, goes public first after SpaceX. Which one of those goes first actually matters quite a bit. The first to list kind of sets the tone of the market. Investors have to get comfortable with it, get used to, like, what's the new business model that they're investing in? And it can also be a really bad thing to go second if the first guy doesn't do too well. There's a good reason for them to go fast. Another really important one is simply that SpaceX is going to suck up a lot of capital.

That company they want to be valued at $1.5 trillion. The investors are going to put a lot of money. money into it. And there's not infinite money to be invested in things. ASA says that when the S-1 filing becomes publicly available, he'll be looking at Anthropics' ties to other big tech companies. Anthropic has very good relationships with Amazon, with others, with Google. What are their paperwork going to say about those relationships and how tight they are and how important they are and how big of a customer those companies are, how concentrated things are, how circular things are? These are some of the big fundamental

questions about the AI boom. And to the extent that these filings can kind of illustrate that. For me, that's going to be one of the most fascinating things. In other AI news, Florida has filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, and its CEO, Sam Altman. The lawsuit claims OpenAI and Altman knowingly released an unsafe product and ignored warnings that it could harm users. During a press conference in West Palm Beach today, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeyer said he hopes to set a precedent. So here we're going to be the first in the nation state to file a lawsuit against ChatGPT, I hope and expect other states will follow, and ultimately we need them to change their programming. The lawsuit comes after a criminal investigation into OpenAI that Uthmeyer opened in April

over the role ChachyPT played in a mass shooting that killed two people at Florida State University last year. They need to pay for it by opening up their checkbook and changing the program to ensure that there are parental controls and that we are not endangering our kids. A spokeswoman for OpenAI said the company believes minors need significant protection from AI and that OpenAI has put safeguards in place. She said the company is committed to getting it right. And we should note that News Corp, owner of the Wall Street Journal, has a content licensing partnership with OpenAI.

In Deal News, People Incorporated, the publishing company owned by Barry Diller, has offered to take over the rest of MGM resorts. Diller's company already owns about a quarter of MGM. In a letter to MGM's board today, Diller wrote that the company is not currently realizing its full potential in the public markets. The deal would value the casino giant at around $12.4 billion. MGM stock closed up 16% on the news. And Hollywood is a buzz after seeing a strong opening from two indie horror films.

What did you find? The place. That was Backrooms, which won the box office crown this weekend. The other horror movie, Obsession, came in at number two. They're not sequels, and they're not. based on books. In fact, both came from Gen Z directors. One is just 20 years old, who first became viral hitmakers on YouTube and TikTok. And the thing about these movies is they got Gen Z to buy tickets to the movie theater. WSJ Entertainment reporter Ben Fritz is here to tell us more about

how these films represent a new pipeline for stories and audiences. Ben, what's really striking about this box office performance is that it beat out openings from the latest Pixar movie, the Double Words Prada 2. But it's really what's striking is who. who went to see it. So three quarters or more of ticket buyers were under 35. Is this unusual? And why are these films having so much success with a younger crowd? People have worried that this generation, because they're growing up, living in their phones, wouldn't be interested in going to theaters. But what we've actually learned this weekend is they will go to theaters, but they're really interested in creators and story ideas that emerge from the Internet, because that's what culture is to them. Culture is not so much these old franchises like Marvel and Star Wars and so on. What does this show us about what it takes to make a hit movie in 2026?

What it shows is that people are really seeking culture that feels authentic because that's what you get online. Online people are used to a direct relationship with the creators of media. And I think that's what they want from movies as well. And when people can smell of the movies corporately manufactured, a lot of people, especially young people, are increasingly turned off by that. Backrooms, the director is somebody who made online videos based on this internet meme. He was already well known to his audience, so it felt really authentic. Backrooms was made for $10 million. Obsession was made for $750,000.

In the past, typically a bigger budget meant bigger box office because it was a kind of spectacle people wanted to see on screen. But that connection is being lost. Clearly, young audiences don't care as much about a big budget. Combined with the fact that technology is getting better and better, so you can make something that looks pretty cool for less and less money. So that's also exciting for Hollywood because, you know, The film business is tough.

It's always been a low margin business. So if you can make big box office on a low budget, that is very good news for Hollywood. That was WSJ reporter, Ben Fritz. Thanks so much, Ben. Sure. My pleasure, Alex. Coming up, news from the Trump administration and the $50,000 aviation safety fix that's dividing lawmakers. That's after the break.

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Free of charge. BetMGEM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with Eye Gaming Ontario. The Trump administration today signaled a retreat on its $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund. after strong pushback from lawmakers against it. The Justice Department said it would abide by a judge's order from Friday, directing the government to temporarily halt work on the fund, while a DOJ spokeswoman said the Justice Department, quote, disagrees strongly with the court's decision.

A White House official said the Justice Department's statement was the first step towards dropping the fund. But the official caution that President Trump could change his mind. President Trump says Israel and Hezbollah have agreed to stop their fighting in Lebanon. In a social media post, Trump said that, quote, there will be no troops going to Beirut, and that Hezbollah had agreed that all shooting will stop. The Lebanese embassy in Washington said today that Hezbollah has agreed to the U.S. proposal calling for a mutual halt to attacks. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on X that he told Trump that Israel will keep attacking terror targets in Beirut if Hezbollah doesn't stop attacking Israel.

And he added that the Israeli military will continue to operate as planned in southern Lebanon. The growing conflict has been a sticking point for Iran and talks aimed at finding a lasting deal to end its war with the U.S. Iran wants a durable ceasefire in Lebanon as part of any final agreement. Trump also said today that talks with Iranian leaders were continuing at a quote rapid pace. Trump's comments came after strikes from the U.S. and Iran over the weekend. Those tensions sent oil prices higher. The international benchmark Brent crude rose more than 4 percent to almost $95 a barrel. Meanwhile, stocks kept rising.

especially companies at the heart of the AI boom like Nvidia, which jumped more than 6% after revealing its new PC chip. The NASDAQ led the gains in the indexes and closed up 0.4%. After 67 people died in a mid-air crash in Washington, D.C. last year, government and industry officials promised to take action to prevent similar tragedies in the future. Now, there's a potential fix on the table. It could cost $50,000 per airplane,

and it's putting the aviation industry and Washington at odds. It's called ADSB-N. And basically it allows other airplanes to see other airplanes. There are disagreements about the safety benefits for this technology versus maybe a next-generation technology that's in development. There are questions about costs and schedule. And there are questions about the time it would take to go through a potentially lengthy government. rulemaking process. You have to test, you have to certify. And then you've got also the supply chain to deal with, too. How many airplanes can providers retrofit the fleet of commercial

aircraft now flying? And for more than a year, Congress have been wrangling over how to get more information to pilots. People in the aviation safety world and the aviation industry generally support getting more information to pilots about nearby aircraft. They just can't quite agree on how to do it. That was WSJ reporter, Andrew Tangle. And that's what's news for this Monday afternoon. Today's show is produced by Danny Lewis and Anthony Bansy with supervising producer Tully R. Bell.

I'm Alex O'Souffe for the Wall Street Journal. We'll be back with a new show tomorrow morning. Thanks for listening. Thank you.