Eric Schmidt, Google’s former CEO, owns about 1% of Anthropic, according to Bloomberg. If the AI company goes public at the valuations now being discussed, the stake could be worth billions of dollars.
Schmidt invested tens of millions of dollars in Anthropic’s Series A round in 2021, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The report has not been independently verified, and Bloomberg said it was unclear whether Schmidt had sold any shares since his initial investment.
Anthropic raised $124 million in that round, led by Skype co-founder Jaan Tallinn, with Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz also participating. PitchBook data cited by Bloomberg put Anthropic’s valuation at $461 million at the time.
The company’s value has grown considerably since then. After its latest private funding round in May, Anthropic was valued at $965 billion, putting Schmidt’s reported stake at roughly $9.7 billion.
The company could be worth considerably more on the public markets. Bloomberg reported that potential investors have discussed an IPO valuation of $1.8 trillion to $2 trillion. At the upper end, Schmidt’s 1% holding would be worth around $20 billion. That would take his estimated net worth from $57.5 billion to nearly $80 billion, assuming he still holds the full stake.
Some Anthropic investors are now pushing for a lower valuation of around $1.5 trillion following weaker third-quarter results, Reuters reported on Monday. Even at that level, Schmidt’s holding would be worth about $15 billion.
The valuations under discussion are far from universally accepted. US research firm New Constructs has called Anthropic’s planned listing the year’s “most ridiculous IPO” and put its value at $144 billion, a fraction of the figures being considered by potential IPO investors.
Schmidt led Google from 2001 to 2011 and later chaired its parent company, Alphabet, until early 2018. Through investment firms including Innovation Endeavors and his family office, Hillspire, he has also backed AI startups such as Mistral AI, Reflection AI, and World Labs, Bloomberg reported.
Google is itself one of Anthropic’s biggest backers, alongside Amazon. Both companies have invested billions of dollars in the AI developer and provide the cloud computing infrastructure behind its Claude models.
Anthropic could begin marketing its shares to investors as early as the week of 9 November, Bloomberg reported earlier this month, with trading potentially starting before US Thanksgiving on 26 November. The timing and final valuation have yet to be confirmed.