Eric Schmidt’s Anthropic stake could lift his wealth to nearly $80 billion

NEW DELHI: Eric Schmidt, the former chief executive of Google, could see his wealth rise to nearly $80 billion if artificial intelligence startup Anthropic reaches a value of $2 trillion in a possible initial public offering (IPO), according to Bloomberg.

Schmidt reportedly owns about 1 per cent of Anthropic. People familiar with the investment told Bloomberg that he invested tens of millions of dollars in the company’s Series A funding round in 2021. It is not clear whether he has sold any of his shares since then.

This possible gain reflects how much Anthropic’s value has grown. Data from PitchBook put the startup’s value at $461 million in 2021. Since then, investors have discussed a possible IPO value of $1.8 trillion to $2 trillion.

If the company reaches the top of that range, Schmidt’s wealth could grow by about one-third to nearly $80 billion, based on Bloomberg’s wealth index. Even if Anthropic is valued at $965 billion, the most recent value reported in the article, his stake could add nearly $10 billion to his current wealth of $57.5 billion.

Schmidt, 71, has built a portfolio of technology investments over the past 15 years through companies and investment groups such as TomorrowVentures, Innovation Endeavors and his family office, Hillspire. In recent years, he has focused more on artificial intelligence. His investments include Anthropic, Mistral AI, Reflection AI and World Labs.

A possible stock market listing for Anthropic could also bring large returns to Innovation Endeavors. The firm invested in Uber Technologies in 2011. Uber was valued at $82 billion when it went public in 2019, following the firm’s early investment in the ride-hailing company.

Anthropic is getting ready for a possible stock market listing before the end of 2026. According to people familiar with the plans cited in the report, the company could start officially promoting its IPO as early as the week of 9 November. Trading could begin before the US Thanksgiving holiday.

The possible IPO has drawn attention because Anthropic has several major investors. These include Alphabet, Amazon, Nvidia and Microsoft, all of which have invested billions of dollars in the company that makes the Claude chatbot.

Venture capital firms Altimeter Capital, Dragoneer, Greenoaks and Sequoia Capital also each invested more than $2 billion when they led a $65 billion funding round in May. According to the report, this round raised Anthropic’s value above that of its rival OpenAI for the first time.

People are comparing Anthropic’s possible stock market debut with SpaceX’s reported $1.77 trillion IPO in June. However, Anthropic’s possible values are still estimates. The final terms and timing of any stock market listing have not yet been confirmed.

For Schmidt, investing in Anthropic early could become one of his most valuable technology investments. This will depend on the company’s final value when it goes public and how much of his stake he still owns.