A 10 billion dollar stake for a former Google CEO

A former Google CEO’s investment in Anthropic has grown to nearly 10 billion dollars, as the company prepares for a public listing that could reach a valuation of as much as 2 trillion dollars. Even at the company’s latest private market valuation of 965 billion dollars, the stakes held by many of those VCs and early backers already total billions. Eric Schmidt invested in Anthropic’s Series A in 2021, when the startup was valued at 461 million dollars, and today, he owns about 1% of the company, which means his stake is worth nearly 10 billion dollars at the current private valuation.

Other major backers have stakes that are also worth billions. Iconiq’s $6 billion check to Anthropic last year, when the company was already valued at 183 billion dollars, is now worth 17 billion dollars and has the potential to double at the IPO. Menlo Ventures’ VC firm led Anthropic’s Series D and has invested more than 1 billion dollars in the company over time, a stake now worth 14 billion dollars. Sequoia’s famed VC firm backed the AI lab for the first time only earlier this year, when the company was already valued at 380 billion dollars. The $3 billion investment gave it about 1% ownership, which means it has already more than doubled its investment. Sound Ventures’ firm, launched by Guy Oseary and actor Ashton Kutcher, invested 35 million dollars in Anthropic’s 2023 Series C round and has since funneled an additional 400 million dollars into the company, resulting in a stake that’s worth billions now. (Kutcher left Sound Ventures this year to launch a new VC firm.) Spark Capital’s only VC firm known to hold a board seat at Anthropic invested 75 million dollars in that same 2023 Series C round, when it was valued at 5 billion dollars. That position has ballooned more than ninetyfold to 7 billion dollars.