4,250 Anthropic employees could soon find themselves sitting on million-dollar fortunes as the AI company’s upcoming IPO puts years of stock compensation within reach of the public market.
Major Wall Street banks are not waiting to see how that works out, with Goldman Sachs (GS), Bank of America (BAC), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Wells Fargo (WFC), and Bank of New York Mellon (BK) vying for the right to tell the employees what to do with their money.
According to Bloomberg, the banks have had talks with Anthropic regarding providing financial services to its employees. It should be noted that the number of future millionaires is only an estimate, and actual payments will be determined by individual stock grants, listing price, and when employees can sell.
Anthropic employees are sitting on billions in stock awards
Formed in 2021 by former OpenAI employees, Anthropic has developed from a young AI startup into one of the most recognized companies in the industry. Thanks to its Claude chatbot and artificial intelligence coding software, the company has been able to compete for firms that are ready to pay handsomely for artificial intelligence solutions.
According to Anthropic’s recent Securities and Exchange Commission filing, the company had around 940 employees as of the end of 2024. By September 30, 2026, its total number of employees worldwide rose to 5,300.
Per the filing, there is one more thing that has attracted the attention of wealth managers – $32.3 billion in unrecorded stock-based compensation expense.
Out of this figure, around $8.2 billion pertains to compensation related to awards for which employees have already served part or all of their respective service periods.
Most of the compensation is related to restricted stock units, which are also known as RSUs. These awards entitle employees to receive company shares upon meeting certain criteria, mostly pertaining to their period of employment.
There is an important catch, though.
That $32.3 billion is an accounting charge that has yet to be made by Anthropic. That doesn’t indicate that the workforce is going to get that money all at once, nor does it determine the value of their stock in any way.
Some of them have already gotten a chance to convert their stock into money.
In February, according to Bloomberg, Anthropic has made a provision for a possible private sale of stock worth $6 billion, based on an enterprise valuation of around $350 billion.
And apparently, not everyone who cashed out immediately went shopping for a Ferrari.
Financial News reported, citing wealth advisers familiar with employees’ decisions, that some used their proceeds to purchase homes around the San Francisco Bay Area. Others preferred putting their money into index funds.
Anthropic’s $1 trillion IPO comes with some expensive questions
Anthropic’s latest filing on Tuesday put its potential IPO valuation at $1.02 trillion, below figures investors had previously discussed.
The company and existing investors are looking to raise as much as $64.4 billion by offering 825 million shares, with an expected price range of $70 to $78 each.
Those numbers are still enormous, but expectations were previously much higher.
Earlier this year, some investors anticipated an October IPO that could value Anthropic at $2 trillion. Subsequent discussions centered on $1.5 trillion, before concerns about expensive infrastructure commitments and volatile AI stocks weighed on expectations.
Some prospective investors questioned whether the company could justify those prices while spending heavily on the computing power needed to develop and run its models.
Employees hoping to cash out also face another obstacle: share lockups.
Anthropic’s prospectus outlines selling restrictions lasting up to 180 days for certain employees and shareholders. Some other holdings could remain locked for 365 days, meaning workers cannot necessarily sell their shares immediately after the company lists.
Charitable giving is another part of the story.
Anthropic announced in October that its co-founders had pledged to donate 80% of their equity holdings when they established the company.
It also operates a program matching qualifying employee donations made through equity, with approximately half of Anthropic’s workforce participating.
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