Anthropic prepares supervoting power for founders ahead of IPO: Report
AI startup Anthropic is reportedly planning to implement a dual-class stock structure to grant its founders supervoting power ahead of a potential IPO. This move is intended to protect the company's long-term public benefit mission from short-term shareholder pressure.
Why it matters
The move highlights the tension between maintaining corporate control for mission-driven AI development and the demands of public market investors.
Anthropic has been preparing to give CEO Dario Amodei and other co-founders a class of stock with extra voting power to help insulate them from external shareholder pressure, the Information reported on Tuesday, citing two people familiar with the matter.
The company is also planning to maintain its existing body of non-shareholder trustees with a special class of stock to elect a majority of members to the company’s board of directors, according to the report.
The specifics of the voting arrangements could not be learned, and the plans could still change, the report said.
Anthropic did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Such a move would mark the first time Anthropic’s leaders would have extra voting power. The Claude maker’s co-founders hold relatively small ownership in the company, compared to founders of other tech firms.
Get smarter about the news
Sign up free for a feed built around what you actually care about, Dive Deeper research on any story, and the full text of every article.
Create free accountAlready have an account? Sign in