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AnthropicâÂÂs founders seek voting control ahead of IPO
AnthropicâÂÂs founders want to stay in charge after the company goes public. According to The Information, the company is asking shareholders to approve a structure âÂÂin the coming daysâ that would give CEO Dario Amodei and his six co-founders special shares carrying a combined 50.1% of the vote on most corporate matters, as long as at least three of them keep a minimum stake.
This isnâÂÂt a new idea; super-voting shares are how Mark Zuckerberg kept control of Meta, and how Evan Spiegel maintained his hold of Snap. The list is long. WhatâÂÂs unusual is the group approach.
Why do it? The seven co-founders reportedly own just 2% of the company apiece, Amodei included, and have pledged to give away 80% of their wealth, a commitment the CEO announced in January alongside a warning that AI-driven wealth concentration could destabilize society. The new shares carry no extra economic value, but theyâÂÂd preserve the groupâÂÂs control once the company starts trading publicly.
There are twists, too: AnthropicâÂÂs Long-Term Benefit Trust would still choose most of the board; the foundersâ board seats would grow from two to three; and employees would get their own stock to break ties on some issues.
Five-year-old Anthropic was valued at $965 billion in May. The company was recently valued at $1.5 trillion on the secondary market, and its upcoming IPO is expected to reflect that new valuation.