Anthropic commits 5% of its shares to a new Public Benefit Fund as it prepares for a possible blockbuster listing
The Claude developer says the fund's stake can grow by a further 2% for every 50% rise in the company's value, and could back nonprofits, direct payments and efforts to deal with AI's impact on jobs. With earlier pledges by founders and staff, roughly 20% of Anthropic's shares would be dedicated to the public good.
Anthropic announced on Sunday that it is committing part of its equity to a new Anthropic Public Benefit Fund. Subject to stockholder approval, 5% of the company's shares will go into the fund straight away, and the board can add a further 2% for every 50% increase in Anthropic's value above a set baseline. The company noted that tech firms commonly give executives escalating share awards as they grow; it said it is directing that kind of equity to the public benefit instead.
The fund is being set up as a wholly owned limited liability company rather than a charity, which Anthropic says gives it flexibility between different forms of giving, from large donations to traditional nonprofits to direct distributions to specific groups of people. One area it highlights is the labour market: Anthropic has already committed $200 million to studying and addressing AI's effect on jobs and says 'bolder approaches may be needed'. None of the fund's shares will be used for lobbying or political donations, in the US or abroad.
The move builds on earlier pledges. Anthropic's co-founders committed at the start to donate 80% of their equity, and about half of employees take part in a programme in which the company matches the shares they pledge. Combined with the new fund, the company says roughly 20% of its shares would be dedicated to the public good, before any additions linked to valuation milestones. Details on governance are promised in the coming months.
The announcement comes as Anthropic lays the groundwork for a potential stock market listing that, according to the BBC, could value it at more than $1 trillion. The company recently told prospective investors that its revenue rose 45% to $16.8 billion in the three months to the end of September. Elon Musk responded on social media that he would recommend 'giving the shares directly to the public'. Separately, Anthropic said it is giving the nonprofit evaluator METR employee-like access to test the safety of its systems, and is in early talks with other organisations, including Hugging Face.
Source: Anthropic (with BBC News, TechCrunch)