Goldman seeks wealth clients alongside fees from Anthropic’s expected IPO

Goldman Sachs is pursuing more than a fee for taking Anthropic public: it wants to manage the personal fortunes the offering could help create. CNBC reported on November 13 that Goldman and Morgan Stanley are co-leading the expected IPO, giving them access to potential wealth-management clients before the company begins trading.

The offering could raise $64.35 billion, according to the latest filing cited by CNBC. Goldman and Morgan Stanley are responsible for coordinating 20 other underwriters, helping set the offer price and marketing shares to investors. Those assignments put the banks close to Anthropic’s leadership during a transaction that could turn private stock holdings into substantial personal wealth.

A one-time fee and a recurring business

Evercore ISI analyst Glenn Schorr estimated the underwriting payout in a note to clients this week. His base case assumes Goldman and Morgan Stanley each receive 20% of the total fee pool. He used June’s SpaceX offering as a benchmark because the same two banks held leading roles in that transaction.

Wealth management offers a different revenue stream. Rather than depending on the next corporate transaction, a bank collects recurring fees for overseeing clients’ assets. Goldman is trying to build more predictable income from that business instead of relying as heavily on dealmaking and trading, whose earnings fluctuate with market activity.

A Goldman spokesperson told CNBC that wealth planning is a natural extension of advising executives on IPOs, financing and acquisitions. The bank already has a referral pipeline: on its July earnings call, Goldman said investment banking had generated nearly 900 referrals to wealth management since the start of 2025.

Two routes to newly wealthy employees

Goldman’s approach starts with its relationships with founders and corporate executives. Its private wealth business targets people with at least $10 million in investable assets; its Ayco business provides financial planning to executives across a broader range of wealth levels. The bank says engaging before an IPO gives clients more flexibility over stock-option exercises, taxes, gifts and liquidity planning.

Morgan Stanley has another route: administering employee stock plans before a company goes public. Its workplace business connects those employees to brokerage accounts and, potentially, financial advice. The bank built those capabilities through its acquisitions of Solium, now Shareworks, in 2019 and E-Trade in 2020, allowing it to serve employees with different levels of wealth.

That route has produced substantial inflows. Morgan Stanley reported a record $232 billion in net new assets in the third quarter, with IPO-related flows contributing just over half. Some of that growth came from SpaceX’s debut, where Morgan Stanley managed a program allowing eligible employees and other participants to buy shares in the offering.

The size of each fortune matters

Anthropic may not give Morgan Stanley that same advantage. As of September, banks were still competing to manage its employee stock plans, CNBC reported. The competition also extends beyond the two lead underwriters: JPMorgan, Citigroup and Bank of America are on the offering and have wealth-management businesses of their own.

Nor does a large offering guarantee a large payoff for Goldman’s particular client base. Morningstar analyst Sean Dunlop told CNBC that much of the wealth could be spread among employees with smaller fortunes, rather than the ultra-wealthy clients Goldman targets. He questioned whether Anthropic’s IPO alone would deliver a huge benefit to Goldman’s wealth business.

The client opportunity can continue after listing. As employees receive and vest further stock awards, Morgan Stanley says it gets additional chances to attract their assets. For banks pursuing this business, the offering is an entry point—not the end of the relationship.