Anthropic wants to give away a slice of itself. Elon Musk has notes on how.
On October 18, 2026, the AI company behind the Claude models announced plans to allocate 5% of its shares to a newly created Anthropic Public Benefit Fund. The move still needs stockholder approval. The same day, Musk took to social media to suggest that the shares should go straight to the public instead of sitting inside an intermediary fund.
How the Anthropic Public Benefit Fund works
Anthropic set it up as a wholly owned LLC rather than a nonprofit, a choice aimed at preserving operational flexibility.
The 5% is only the starting point. At the board’s discretion, the fund could receive an additional 2% of equity for every 50% increase in Anthropic’s valuation above a baseline that has yet to be determined.
Over time, this structure could lead to a commitment of up to 20% of shares for public-benefit uses. That figure is framed as working alongside earlier equity pledges from the company’s co-founders and employees, so it should be read as a potential ceiling, not a guaranteed allocation.
The fund is explicitly barred from using its equity for political contributions or lobbying.
Musk’s counterproposal
Musk’s suggestion: distribute the shares directly to the public rather than parking them in a fund. Direct distribution would put ownership in individual hands immediately, with no board deciding how the value gets deployed. Musk did not lay out the mechanics of how such a distribution would work.
A company that has been giving equity away since day one
When the company was founded in 2021, its co-founders pledged 80% of their equity to charity. With a valuation estimated at around $965 billion as of May 2026, it now looks like an enormous sum.
Approximately half of Anthropic’s employees participate in an equity donation match program.
Anthropic is also organized as a public-benefit corporation, a legal form that lets a company weigh social goals alongside shareholder returns.
What this means for Anthropic’s IPO and the wider industry
Anthropic is preparing for what could be one of the largest IPOs in history. The board’s discretion over additional 2% grants means the eventual size of the fund is not fixed, and the valuation baseline that triggers those grants has not been set.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Diego Almada Lopez. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.