Anthropic Employees 'Hold Back' on Selling Shares, Investors Queue Up Unable to Buy
Anthropic recently completed a tender offer for employee shares at a pre-money valuation of $350 billion, matching its February Series G round. Despite investors offering $5-6 billion to purchase shares, the transaction fell short of its maximum target because a majority of employees chose not to sell.
Key reasons for the low supply include: rapid revenue growth (annualized revenue surged from $9B in late 2025 to an estimated $30B by March 2026), expectations of a potential IPO as early as October 2024 at a valuation between $400-500 billion, and high capital gains taxes in California. Employees preferred holding shares for higher future gains post-IPO.
This follows a similar trend at OpenAI, where only two-thirds of approved shares were sold in a previous tender offer. For late-stage unicorns like Anthropic, tender offers serve as a liquidity tool for employees and a retention strategy amid intense AI talent competition.
The undersubscribed tender indicates strong internal confidence and creates supply scarcity in secondary markets, where implied valuations exceed $500 billion. This may signal strong investor appetite and support a higher IPO valuation, though macroeconomic risks and potential SEC scrutiny over revenue recognition methods remain considerations.
marsbit04/09 02:38
