Anthropic Seeks 50.1% Founder Vote Ahead of IPO While Trust Keeps Board Role

Anthropic is asking shareholders to approve special shares that would give CEO Dario Amodei and six co-founders a combined 50.1% of the vote on most corporate matters ahead of an expected IPO, according to The Information, as cited by TechCrunch. The proposed voting majority would be collective, not Amodei’s alone. Anthropic’s Long-Term Benefit Trust would still choose most directors.

The majority depends on a group

For the special voting rights to apply, at least three founders must retain a minimum ownership stake. TechCrunch reports that each of the seven currently owns about 2% of Anthropic. The condition makes continued ownership by several founders part of the arrangement, rather than placing the voting majority with Amodei individually.

The special shares would add no economic value. They are designed to preserve the founders’ collective voting power once Anthropic trades publicly, without increasing the financial claim attached to those shares. Super-voting shares have helped individual founders retain control at Meta and Snap; Anthropic’s reported proposal instead assigns the majority vote to a group.

Board seats follow different rules

The founders’ board seats would increase from two to three under the proposal. That would give them another seat without replacing the trust as the body that selects most of the board. A majority vote on most corporate matters and authority to choose most directors are distinct powers; the proposal would preserve both.

Employees would also receive stock to break ties on some issues. That is a narrower role than the founders’ proposed voting majority, which applies to most corporate matters. Shareholders are being asked to approve a structure with several voting roles, not a transfer of every decision to the founders.

$965 billionMay valuation

TechCrunch puts Anthropic’s May valuation at $965 billion.

$1.5 trillionMore recent secondary-market valuation

TechCrunch cites a more recent $1.5 trillion valuation on the secondary market.

A vote before the listing

TechCrunch expects the IPO to reflect the more recent valuation, but that figure is not an offering price. The nearer decision is the reported shareholder approval request, expected in the coming days. The arrangement remains a proposal, so prospective public investors cannot yet treat its voting terms as settled.

If shareholders approve it, the structure would make ownership percentage alone a poor guide to who holds power at Anthropic. Investors would need to distinguish the founders’ votes on most matters from the trust’s role in choosing directors and employees’ tie-breaking rights on some issues. Those separate powers are the substance of the proposed deal, alongside any eventual IPO valuation.