Eric Schmidt’s Anthropic stake: a 2021 check now worth up to $20B

Schmidt invested in Anthropic’s Series A round in 2021, the company’s first big outside funding. Jaan Tallinn, who co-founded Skype, led that $124 million round, and Dustin Moskovitz, a Facebook co-founder, also put money in. At the time, Anthropic was valued at $461 million.

Schmidt ran Google from 2001 to 2011, guiding it through its 2004 stock market listing, and later chaired Alphabet before moving to an advisory role. Since leaving, he has become a busy tech investor through Innovation Endeavors, TomorrowVentures and his family office, Hillspire. His recent AI bets include Mistral AI, Reflection AI and World Labs.

Neither Schmidt nor Anthropic has commented. It is also unclear whether he has sold any shares since 2021, so the 1% figure is not confirmed.

The value of Schmidt’s holding depends entirely on what the market decides Anthropic is worth. Here’s how the math works out, assuming he still holds the full stake:

• $461 million (2021 Series A): roughly where he bought in.
• $965 billion (May 2026 funding round): about $9.7 billion, close to $10 billion.
• $1.5 trillion (the lower figure some investors now push for): about $15 billion.
• $2 trillion (top of the discussed IPO range): about $20 billion, more than 4,300 times the Series A valuation.

At the high end, his net worth would rise by about a third, from $57.5 billion to nearly $80 billion, on Bloomberg’s wealth index. For comparison, his firm Innovation Endeavors’ early bet on Uber in 2011 grew about 1,400-fold by the time Uber went public in 2019.

The numbers are huge, and not everyone believes them. Anthropic told investors that its revenue for the third quarter hit $16.8 billion, up 45% on the quarter before, and that it made a profit on an adjusted basis. That growth is what supporters point to.

But some investors want a cheaper price tag, closer to $1.5 trillion, after third-quarter results they saw as weaker than hoped. And US research firm New Constructs has called the listing the year’s “most ridiculous IPO,” putting Anthropic’s value at just $144 billion, a fraction of the figures being discussed.

The scale has jumped fast. In May, Anthropic raised $65 billion in a round led by Altimeter Capital, Dragoneer, Greenoaks and Sequoia Capital, which pushed its valuation above rival OpenAI’s for the first time. Insiders have said the company expects to match or beat SpaceX’s record $1.77 trillion IPO in June.

There’s also a timing question. Altimeter Capital’s Brad Gerstner, an early Anthropic investor, said last week he expects the company to go public in “weeks, not months.” And the money is spread wider than one billionaire: Anthropic’s seven co-founders are already worth about $8 billion each on paper, based on the last funding round, which put all of them on Bloomberg’s list of the world’s 500 richest people.

Most people won’t get shares at the IPO price. Those allocations usually go to big funds first, and ordinary buyers trade once the stock starts changing hands on the open market, sometimes at a very different price. That’s worth knowing before you get caught up in the hype.

You may already have some exposure without realizing it. Alphabet, Google’s parent, owns about 14% of Anthropic, a slice that would be worth more than $280 billion at a $2 trillion valuation. Amazon has invested an estimated $8 billion, and Nvidia and Microsoft have also put money in. If you hold a broad index fund or a retirement account that owns these tech giants, Anthropic’s price will ripple into your balance.

A few things to keep in mind, whatever you decide:

• Valuation ranges are guesses until shares trade. The gap between $144 billion and $2 trillion shows how uncertain they are.
• Early investors may sell later. Big holders such as founders and early backers often face a waiting period before selling, and their sales can move the price when it ends.
• Read the filing. When Anthropic publishes its official IPO documents, they will show real revenue, costs and risks, which matter more than headlines about billionaires.

This is general information, not investment advice. If you’re thinking about buying shares in any IPO, talk to a licensed financial adviser.