Anthropic 的创始人们希望在公司上市后继续掌握控制权。据 The Information 报道，该公司正请求股东在“未来几天内”批准一项股权结构，该结构将赋予 CEO Dario Amodei 及其六位联合创始人特殊股份，在大多数公司事务上合计拥有 50.1% 的投票权，前提是他们中至少有三人保持最低持股比例。
这并非新想法；超级投票权股份正是 Mark Zuckerberg 掌控 Meta 的方式，也是 Evan Spiegel 维持对 Snap 控制的方式。这样的例子还有很多。不同寻常之处在于这种集体方式。
为什么要这么做？据报道，七位联合创始人各自仅持有公司 2% 的股份，Amodei 也不例外，并且他们已承诺捐出 80% 的财富，这一承诺由这位 CEO 在一月份宣布，同时他还警告称，AI 驱动的财富集中可能破坏社会稳定。这些新股不附带额外的经济价值，但一旦公司开始公开交易，它们将保住这个群体的控制权。
其中还有几处变数：Anthropic 的长期利益信托仍将选出董事会多数席位；创始人在董事会的席位将从两个增至三个；员工将获得自己的股份，以便在某些议题上打破僵局。
成立五年的 Anthropic 在五月份估值为 9650 亿美元。该公司近期在二级市场的估值达到 1.5 万亿美元，其即将进行的 IPO 预计将反映这一新估值。
Anthropic’s founders want to stay in charge after the company goes public. According to The Information, the company is asking shareholders to approve a structure “in the coming days” that would give CEO Dario Amodei and his six co-founders special shares carrying a combined 50.1% of the vote on most corporate matters, as long as at least three of them keep a minimum stake.
This isn’t a new idea; super-voting shares are how Mark Zuckerberg kept control of Meta, and how Evan Spiegel maintained his hold of Snap. The list is long. What’s unusual is the group approach.
Why do it? The seven co-founders reportedly own just 2% of the company apiece, Amodei included, and have pledged to give away 80% of their wealth, a commitment the CEO announced in January alongside a warning that AI-driven wealth concentration could destabilize society. The new shares carry no extra economic value, but they’d preserve the group’s control once the company starts trading publicly.
There are twists, too: Anthropic’s Long-Term Benefit Trust would still choose most of the board; the founders’ board seats would grow from two to three; and employees would get their own stock to break ties on some issues.
Five-year-old Anthropic was valued at $965 billion in May. The company was recently valued at $1.5 trillion on the secondary market, and its upcoming IPO is expected to reflect that new valuation.