Wire reporting: (Reuters, via Techmeme)

Corporate AI token spending grew only 1.5% across August and September after a 42% jump in July, even as usage rose, according to Ramp data reported by TechCrunch, as Anthropic prepares a public offering that prospective buyers are pricing below earlier talk of $1.5 trillion^1,4,9.

Ramp lead economist Ara Kharazian told TechCrunch that almost all of that spend comes from venture-backed, high-growth tech companies, and that a pause among the heaviest users is enough to slow overall revenue despite higher volumes¹.

He said the top 1% of firms slipped just below about $10,000 per employee after summer peaks, while median firms spend $12 to $15 per employee per month and the top 10% spend $600 to $1,000¹.

Kharazian said the stall is not a demand collapse: volumes are up, while OpenAI and Anthropic price cuts have made usage cheaper, and customers are routing work to lower-cost models¹.

OpenAI halved API prices for GPT-6 Sol and GPT-6 Luna in September, TechCrunch reported, and Anthropic cut prices on Fable 5.1 and Opus 5.5, a move the company said in a filing reduced revenue growth by about $600 million¹.

Token spend did rise 8.9% from Sept. 23 to Oct. 23, TechCrunch said, though Kharazian still described spend-growth headwinds as strong¹.

Separately, The Verge, citing Bloomberg, said OpenAI is now valued at $1.25 trillion after raising another $11 billion, following a March round of $122 billion at $852 billion, and that it had hoped for as much as $30 billion at $1.4 trillion before a tech-stock drop².

Anthropic filed an S-1 last week, The Verge said². CNBC Make It's earlier investor guide said the filing showed nearly $16.3 billion in first-half 2026 revenue and listed risks including regulation, power and safety³.

Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the matter, said buyers are discussing about $1.2 trillion to $1.3 trillion for Anthropic, with some as low as $1.1 trillion, after a post-election selloff and ahead of formal marketing next week⁴.

CNA carried a Reuters report that people familiar with investor talks said some doubt whether Anthropic can start a roadshow the week of Nov. 9 in time for a November listing, and that some see a recently discussed $1.5 trillion figure as the high end; Anthropic declined to comment (Reuters, via CNA)⁹.

A Techmeme item in the same cluster concerned Wonder Group's confidential IPO filing and did not address AI spend or Anthropic⁵. The Wall Street Journal and epyhia.com pages listed in the cluster were not retrieved in full here^6,8.

What remains unknown from the record retrieved here is whether Anthropic will cut the offering price, delay the roadshow, or keep the November timetable, and whether October's rebound in Ramp token spend continues^1,4,9.