Google former CEO Eric Schmidt held about 1 percent stake in Anthropic, report

Eric Schmidt (에릭 슈미트), the former CEO of Google, is believed to own about 1 percent of Anthropic, a startup that develops artificial intelligence (AI).

TechCrunch reported on October 20 that Schmidt invested tens of millions of dollars in Anthropic's Series A funding round in 2021. He is estimated to have received his stake through that investment.

If this estimate is correct, Schmidt's stake is quite large compared with the 2 percent stake owned by Anthropic co-founder and CEO Dario Amodei (다리오 아모데이). TechCrunch said Schmidt's stake was "surprisingly large" compared with Amodei's. Anthropic is also seen as a company that has a strong chance of going public before the end of the year through an initial public offering (IPO).

Market watchers are paying more attention to how much Anthropic could be worth when it goes public than to the size of Schmidt's stake alone. TechCrunch said the company's IPO value could reach as much as $2 trillion at the high end of estimates. If the company reaches that value, Schmidt's stake could be worth as much as $20 billion. Bloomberg estimates Schmidt's current net worth at $57.5 billion.

Schmidt's stake looks even more valuable when compared with Anthropic's worth at the time he first invested. According to PitchBook data, Anthropic was valued at $461 million in 2021. That is far below the IPO value now being discussed. This difference has brought fresh attention to why Schmidt invested so much money in the company at such an early stage.

Schmidt has continued to invest in technology companies since leaving his role as Google's CEO in 2011. He has made investments through several organizations, including Tomorrow Ventures, Innovation Endeavors Management, and his family office, Hillspire. In the AI field, he has also invested in Mistral, General Intuition, and Reflection AI.

As Anthropic prepares for a possible stock market listing, investors are again looking closely at who owns large parts of the company. The stakes held by its co-founders and early outside investors are attracting attention. How much the market will be willing to pay for Anthropic when it goes public is now an important question.