r/technology • u/CarciaNerissa • 1d ago

Artificial Intelligence Anthropic logged net loss of over $80 billion in first half of 2026

https://www.reuters.com/business/anthropic-recorded-net-loss-over-80-billion-first-half-this-year-wsj-reports-2026-10-20/
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u/mcmonky 1d ago

What are the carryover consequences or benefits of that level of loss from an accounting standpoint?

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u/joshTheGoods 22h ago

the 8bn? that's all net operating loss carryforward. They can use that money to offset 80% of their future taxable income.

as for the 72b ... it's basically meaningless. it represents the value created for shareholders over the last year, and they can cash that out on the open market after Anthropic IPOs.

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u/shidderbean 9h ago

So they're basically taking an unsecured loan from the stock market based on the speculation that their stock will be accordingly valued?

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u/funnynickname 6h ago

It's not meaningless.

Issuing shares instead of paying people wages or issuing shares in exchange for cash is still receiving a service that you would have had to pay cash for.

The only difference is that you're actually overpaying for the service by double or triple.

If they didn't have this accounting loss, their real cash lost would be dramatically higher.

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u/NotFallacyBuffet 21h ago

So, essentially what used to be listed as "goodwill" on balance sheets?

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u/joshTheGoods 20h ago

conceptually there are similarities in that both Goodwill and the 72bn we're talking about represent some intangible value (hype, future growth, etc). Goodwill only comes into play in an acquisition, though, so not in play for an IPO situation, and it's still definitely a thing in accounting. God willing, I'll be having that negotiation again soon ;p.

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u/CajunKush 1d ago

I assume a lower ipo stock price