Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are fighting for the “lead left” underwriter position on the coming OpenAI and Anthropic IPOs, a role worth far more than any other slot on the deal. Both banks are already top book runners on the two listings, but neither company has decided who gets the lead-left designation, the spot that controls how IPO shares are allocated to investors. That power is lucrative because funds funnel “soft dollars,” trading commissions above the bank’s costs, to the lead-left bank to secure bigger share allocations. According to IPO expert Jay Ritter, the real money isn’t the underwriting fees but the first-day “pop,” and if OpenAI and Anthropic each raise at least $60B and jump 20% on debut, the soft dollars cycling back to the banks could top $7B, most of it to whoever lands lead left.
