Amodei Holds Only 2%! Anthropic Plans Super Voting Rights Ahead of IPO to Resist Shareholder Pressure

Anthropic is further adjusting its corporate governance structure in preparation for a potential IPO. According to The Information, citing sources familiar with the matter, Anthropic plans to establish a special class of stock with super voting rights for CEO Dario Amodei and other co-founders, aiming to reduce the influence of external shareholders on company decisions after going public. If implemented, this would mark the first time Anthropic’s founding team gains additional voting power, signaling that the Claude developer is proactively building a 'founder-controlled' mechanism ahead of what could become one of the largest tech IPOs in history.

The report notes that Anthropic also intends to maintain its existing non-shareholder trustee structure, allowing these trustees to hold special-class shares to elect a majority of the board. However, the exact voting power of the founders’ special shares has not yet been determined, and governance arrangements may still be adjusted. Anthropic has not yet responded to Reuters’ request for comment.

The core rationale lies in the relatively limited equity stake currently held by Anthropic’s co-founders. Amodei personally owns about 2% of the company. Therefore, if Anthropic completes an IPO with significant external investor ownership, the founding team—despite retaining operational control—could face pressure from shareholders demanding strategic shifts, higher short-term profits, or changes in capital expenditure. A dual-class or super-voting rights structure would allow founders to maintain strong voting control even with low economic ownership.

Such arrangements are not uncommon in the tech industry. SpaceX uses a dual-class structure, giving founder and CEO Elon Musk substantial voting control. Meta Platforms (META-US) enables CEO Mark Zuckerberg to wield approximately 60% of voting power through super-voting shares. If Anthropic adopts a similar model, it will empower the founding team to steer long-term strategy post-IPO without being swayed by quarterly earnings or short-term stock performance.

One key difference between Anthropic and typical tech startups is that the company does not solely aim to maximize shareholder returns. It operates as a public benefit corporation, legally required to balance commercial success with societal and public interests. Additionally, Anthropic established the Long-Term Benefit Trust as an independent oversight body to ensure ongoing adherence to its public benefit mission.

Thus, founder super voting rights and the Long-Term Benefit Trust represent two distinct governance mechanisms. The former allows Amodei and co-founders to retain long-term strategic control, while the latter safeguards the company’s public benefit mission from being compromised under commercial pressures. This makes Anthropic’s IPO governance framework potentially more complex than that of standard tech firms.

This governance preparation coincides with rapid progress toward IPO. The company secretly filed a draft registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in June but has not yet disclosed share count, pricing range, exchange, or official IPO date. It emphasized that final listing depends on market conditions and other factors.

Pre-IPO valuation has surged. After closing a $6.5 billion Series H round in May, Anthropic reached a post-money valuation of $96.5 billion—more than 1.5 times its $38 billion valuation from a February $3 billion funding round. The round was co-led by Altimeter Capital, Dragoneer, Greenoaks, and Sequoia Capital, including $15 billion in prior commitments from large cloud providers, with Amazon.com (AMZN-US) pledging $5 billion.

At the time, Anthropic stated global enterprise adoption of Claude continues to grow, with its annualized run-rate revenue surpassing $4.7 billion in May. By July 2026, the run-rate had risen to approximately $6.5 billion, indicating sustained high commercial growth.

However, signs of slowing revenue growth have emerged. Reuters reported that Anthropic’s annualized revenue grew 58% in April and 57% in May, but monthly growth slowed to 38% by the end of July. Still, if the company maintains around 9% monthly growth through year-end, annualized revenue could reach $100 billion.

This rapid growth is a primary reason for Anthropic’s potential ultra-high IPO valuation. Recent market reports suggest some investors are already betting the company could exceed a $2 trillion valuation at IPO, possibly reaching $3 trillion. If the final valuation surpasses $2 trillion, Anthropic could challenge or even surpass SpaceX’s record as the largest IPO in history.

Anthropic’s private-market valuation has also continued rising. Secondary market transactions indicate a peak valuation of around $1.5 trillion—about 55% higher than the $96.5 billion from its last formal financing round in May. However, secondary trading volume is limited, and few shareholders are willing to sell, so these prices cannot be directly equated with official IPO valuation.

If Anthropic ultimately adopts a founder super-voting rights structure, investors will need to weigh 'growth potential' against 'shareholder rights.' On one hand, super voting rights can help management avoid frequent strategic shifts due to short-term market fluctuations—a practical advantage for companies requiring long-term investment in AI models, computing infrastructure, and safety research.

On the other hand, super voting rights mean ordinary shareholders’ influence may fall below their economic ownership. If founders hold only about 2% of company shares but gain disproportionately high voting power via special stock, even majority holders of public shares may lack direct power to change the board or management.

This arrangement is particularly noteworthy because post-IPO pressures on Anthropic may extend beyond typical tech profitability concerns. Training and inference for AI models require massive computing resources. The company must continuously purchase chips, rent data centers, and invest in model development—investments that could compress profitability in the short term. If public shareholders demand higher margins, it could clash with the founders’ desire to keep investing in AI capabilities.

Anthropic is also strengthening pre-IPO financial flexibility. Reuters reports the company is preparing a revolving credit facility potentially exceeding $10 billion, inviting multiple banks to commit. Top-tier banks may pledge around $1.25 billion each, second-tier about $1 billion, and others $750 million or less.

This over-$10 billion potential credit line reflects the substantial capital needed to support business expansion before listing. Reuters previously reported Anthropic expects annual revenue to reach $190–200 billion by 2028, with July 2026 run-rate revenue already exceeding $65 billion. Achieving such ambitious growth targets will require continuous scaling of computing capacity and infrastructure.

Therefore, founder control measures are just one part of Anthropic’s IPO preparations. From confidential S-1 filing and a $96.5 billion private-market valuation to securing a multi-billion-dollar credit facility, Anthropic is simultaneously managing governance, financing, and capital markets positioning.

This positions Anthropic as one of the most anticipated IPOs in global capital markets this year. If the company lists at over $2 trillion, the extent of founder voting control and ordinary shareholders’ influence will become critical factors for investors evaluating the offering.

However, all super voting rights plans remain in the preparatory stage. Specific terms have not been finalized, and the ultimate structure may change. Anthropic has not publicly confirmed the report. Thus, until official IPO documents are released, the market cannot determine how much voting power Amodei and co-founders will ultimately hold, or how actual control will be shared between the Long-Term Benefit Trust and the board.

For Anthropic