Eric Schmidt reportedly holds about 1% of Anthropic ahead of IPO
Bloomberg said the former Google chief invested in 2021, but whether he has since sold shares remains unclear.
Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt holds about 1% of Anthropic, Bloomberg reported, a stake that could be worth around US$20 billion if the AI developer lists at the highest valuation discussed by potential investors.
Citing people familiar with the matter, Bloomberg said Schmidt put tens of millions of dollars into Anthropic’s 2021 Series A funding. The report has not been independently verified. Bloomberg said it could not establish whether he had subsequently sold any shares.
That round brought Anthropic US$124 million and was led by Skype co-founder Jaan Tallinn. PitchBook figures cited by Bloomberg valued the company at US$461 million then. Following its latest private fundraising in May, its valuation reached US$965 billion, making Schmidt’s reported holding worth roughly US$9.7 billion.
Bloomberg said prospective IPO investors had discussed valuing Anthropic between US$1.8 trillion and US$2 trillion. Reuters separately reported that weaker third-quarter results had prompted some existing investors to seek a valuation of around US$1.5 trillion.
US research firm New Constructs has offered a much lower assessment, putting Anthropic’s value at US$144 billion. Google and Amazon are major Anthropic backers, having invested billions of dollars while supplying cloud infrastructure for its Claude models.
Bloomberg previously reported that Anthropic could start marketing shares during the week beginning 9 November, with trading potentially underway before US Thanksgiving on 26 November. Neither the listing schedule nor the final valuation has been confirmed.
