Anthropic is asking its shareholders to approve a new corporate structure that would give Dario Amodei and his six co-founders a combined 50.1% of voting power. The Information reported it on Thursday, citing people familiar with the planning; Reuters picked the story up.
How the structure would work
The seven would get a special class of shares carrying collective voting control over most corporate matters. The model, according to the report, is Palantir, where the founders kept control after going public through a third share class.
Two limits are in the report. The special rights hold only as long as at least three of the seven founders keep a minimum number of shares. And they do not apply to electing board members. The board has seven seats, one of them currently vacant.
Anthropic also plans a separate class of stock for employees whose votes would break ties on certain questions.
Anthropic did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment.
The timing
The company is preparing what could be one of the largest IPOs on record. Earlier this month Reuters reported it might slip past the US midterm elections in November. In May, Anthropic raised $65 billion at a $965 billion post-money valuation.
The rest of this week shows how fast the ground moves around that offering: a possible new model ahead of the IPO was reported five days ago, and yesterday an $11.6 billion commitment to Akamai landed on top.
What the founders are protecting
Anthropic has been selling one promise for years: this lab will slow down when it has to, even against the market. Going public normally puts that promise up for a vote, because shareholders arrive who never signed up for it. A founder majority takes the question off the table.
The flip side is the same coin. Buying Anthropic stock would mean buying a company where seven people decide most things on their own, for as long as three of them stay. The board exception is more than a detail — it is the one place where outside holders would still carry weight.
Whether investors accept that will show up in the book. They let Palantir get away with it.