Anthropic’s founders seek voting control ahead of IPO

Anthropics founders seek voting control ahead of IPO | TechCrunch

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8:40 AM PDT · September 25, 2026

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Anthropics founders seek voting control ahead of IPO

Anthropics 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 isnt 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. Whats 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 theyd preserve the groups control once the company starts trading publicly.

There are twists, too: Anthropics 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.

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