Anthropic plans employee tender offer at US$350 billion valuation

[SAN FRANCISCO] Anthropic is working on a deal to let some employees sell shares in the company at a valuation of at least US$350 billion, according to a source familiar with the matter, a plan that is coming together at the same time as a funding round that could bring in more than US$20 billion.

The tender offer would allow Anthropic staffers to cash out some equity in one of the world’s most richly valued artificial intelligence (AI) startups. The US$350 billion valuation is the same one being discussed in the company’s ongoing fundraising, the source said, and is pre-money, meaning it does not include US dollars being raised.

Anthropic declined to comment on the effort.

The details of the tender offer have not been finalised yet, said the source, who asked not to be identified because the matter is private. The capital for the secondary deal is being lined up from investors, and the ultimate transaction value will depend on how much stock eligible current and former employees decide to sell, they said.

The valuation of the tender offer could also change depending on Anthropic’s current funding round and the value of the company.

Secondary share sales are an increasingly popular way for startups to give staff a way to get liquidity in a competitive AI hiring landscape, as more large startups choose to stay private longer.

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Stripe and SpaceX have held multiple such deals. OpenAI, Anthropic’s biggest rival, has also routinely done share sales, including a US$6.6 billion secondary at a US$500 billion valuation in October.

OpenAI and SpaceX have both recently taken steps towards initial public offerings. BLOOMBERG