A round with a deadline is a round priced to dodge a comparison. OpenAI wants ~$30B at $1.4T+ committed before Anthropic's expected mid-November IPO, per Reuters. In March it was $852B. The catch is the yardstick: • OpenAI pitches $50B annualized revenue, booked net of partner shares • Anthropic was at ~$65B by July. OpenAI says it counts cloud resales gross; Anthropic says its accounting is standard Abu Dhabi's MGX is in talks on this round. It co-led Anthropic's Series G in February. Gulf money is the one buyer that doesn't have to pick a side. My rule when a founder sets a close date before the comp lands: I wait for the comp. If the price is right, it's still right in December.