Eric Schmidt holds roughly 1% of Anthropic ahead of its IPO, Bloomberg says

what happened

Former Google chief executive Eric Schmidt holds about 1% of Anthropic, according to a Bloomberg News report that Reuters cited on Monday. The stake could make him one of the largest individual beneficiaries once the AI company goes public. People familiar with the matter told Bloomberg that he put tens of millions of dollars into the Series A round. It is unclear whether he has sold any shares since.

Neither Anthropic nor Schmidt's representatives had responded to Reuters' request for comment. Separately, some investors at a recent meeting discussed a valuation near $1.5 trillion, lower than the roughly $2 trillion previously floated. Anthropic's prospectus, seen by Reuters in September, argues AI will reshape the world economy more deeply than past technological shifts. Amazon and Google were early backers, providing billions and cloud computing capacity for its Claude models.

why it matters

For markets, the Anthropic listing is a test of investor appetite for AI companies going public. Talk of a valuation below earlier expectations may signal a more cautious mood. Large early stakes also raise the prospect of share sales after listing, which often weighs on new issues. Alphabet and Amazon have exposure to the company through their own investments.

market impact

Alphabet, Amazon: early Anthropic backers stand to gain from a listing, and valuation talk sets sentiment for AI IPOs

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