Anthropic’s amended S-1 is out, and most of the coverage is about the deal size. 825 million shares at $70 to $78, ticker ANT, $64.4 billion at the top of the range, pricing next Wednesday night with trading on Thursday, Nov. 19. Add the $26 billion private placement from Google, Nvidia, AMD, Broadcom, Micron, Microsoft and TSMC and the greenshoe, and the raise tops $100 billion.
The employee equity number is larger than the IPO itself, and it will affect hiring across B2B + AI for years.
The Four Employee Equity Numbers at $78
Per the filing, as reported by ZeroHedge:
| Bucket | Shares | Value at $78 |
|---|---|---|
| Employee options (avg. strike $2.91) | 1.77B | ~$138B gross |
| Unvested RSUs | 1.07B | ~$84B |
| Issued since Sept. 30 (acquisitions + donation matching) | 29M | ~$2B |
| Reserved for future grants (2026 equity plan + ESPP) | 2.05B | ~$160B |
The $138B on the options is gross value. Subtract the strike (1.77B × $2.91 = ~$5.2B) and the net is about $133B. Add the RSUs, and current option and RSU holders own about $216 billion of net value at the top of the range. At $70, the bottom of the range, it’s about $194 billion.
These figures cover employee equity awards only. The seven co-founders’ founder stock is ordinary common stock in the basic share count, and it’s on top of the $216B.
~5,300 Employees, ~$41 Million Average
Anthropic had approximately 5,300 employees as of 30 September 2026. $216B divided by 5,300 is about $41 million per employee.
The average overstates some things and understates others. Former employees still hold vested options, which pulls the real number for current staff down. And the distribution is very uneven. Headcount went from about 940 employees at the end of 2024 to roughly 5,300 by late September, so more than 80% of current employees joined in the last 21 months.
A $2.91 Strike Means Early Employees Hold the Options
A $2.91 average strike against a $78 price is a 27x spread. The options are about 96% in the money, so they’re worth almost the same as the shares themselves.
Options struck that low were granted when Anthropic was worth a small fraction of today’s price. Most of the $133B in net option value likely belongs to the pre-2025 cohort, roughly 1,000 people. For them the per-person number is far above $41 million, and many hold nine figures.
Later hires mostly hold RSUs. The $84B is spread across about 4,000+ people, which still averages around $20 million each.
The filing also reports approximately $32.3 billion of total unrecognized stock-based compensation expense related to RSUs. That’s the accounting cost at grant-date values, against an $84B market value for the same unvested RSUs. Employees received most of this stock at much lower prices. The filing says RSU expense will rise in the quarter the offering closes, so Q4 GAAP stock comp will be very large.
Seven Co-Founders Are Each Selling $264 Million
Each co-founder is selling 3.38 million shares in the IPO, about $264 million each at $78 and $1.85B total. Secondary is 23.6 million shares, 3% of the deal. The other 97% is primary capital going to the company.
I think founders should do this. Five years at this pace earns some liquidity, and $264M each is a small slice of what they keep. Founders with personal liquidity are less tempted by acquisition offers and secondary tenders, and can plan further out. Control stays put too: the founders will largely run Anthropic indefinitely via their Class F share.
A 3% secondary also tells IPO buyers the founders are keeping nearly all of their exposure.
Employee Stock Is 3.4x the IPO
The IPO sells $64.4B of stock. Employees hold about $216B, or 3.4x the offering and about 117x the founders’ secondary. All of them will want liquidity at some point.
The lockup terms weren’t in the coverage I saw. Whenever it ends, $216B of potential selling is sitting behind it, and how Anthropic manages employee sales will matter for the stock.
Taxes Could Take Close to Half
RSUs are taxed as ordinary income when they settle. Non-qualified option spreads are taxed as ordinary income at exercise. Most employees live in the Bay Area, where top federal plus California rates on ordinary income come close to 50%.
If most of the $216B is taxed that way, tens of billions go to federal and California tax over the next few years. Employees will net well below the headline figure.
$160 Billion Reserved for Future Hires
For other founders, this is the most important line in the filing.
The 2.05B shares reserved for future grants are worth ~$160B at $78, about 74% of what all current option and RSU holders own combined.
Anthropic now has public stock, a revenue run rate the filing puts at $81 billion as of Oct. 31 (up $10 billion in one month), and $160B to grant. It can offer senior engineers, GTM leaders and researchers liquid equity at a scale no private company can match. The S-1/A says competition for staff “is exceptionally intense and has escalated significantly in recent periods, especially in the San Francisco Bay Area”. The $160B pool is how Anthropic intends to compete.
Three Changes for Hiring at Every Other B2B + AI Startup
- Candidates will compare your offer to liquid ANT stock. A Series B option grant with a 4-year vest and no liquidity looks small next to RSUs that settle into public shares. Startups will have to compete on scope, ownership and speed.
- Anthropic’s retention gets harder. Thousands of employees can now afford to leave, and many will once they can sell. The filing says former employees are generally able to join competitors immediately.
- The people who leave know how to run an AI company at scale. They built and sold a product doing $81B in run rate with ~5,300 people. Trailing twelve-month revenue per employee was over $6.6 million, up from $1.4 million a year earlier.
Expect a Wave of Ex-Anthropic Founders in 2027 and 2028
PayPal produced a founder and angel class from a few hundred people. Google and Facebook did it with thousands. Anthropic has ~5,300 people holding $216B, most of them AI engineers and operators, many under 35.
My bet as a VC is that a large group of ex-Anthropic founders will start companies in 2027 and 2028. Many will self-fund or raise their first round from former colleagues, and they’ll angel each other’s deals. They’ll be selective about VCs because they don’t need the money.
Founders will meet this group as hires, angels and competitors. VCs should build relationships with them before the lockup ends.
$216 Billion to Employees, $1.85 Billion to Founders, $160 Billion Still to Grant
Employee-linked equity in the filing totals about $384B at the top of the range: $216B net to current option and RSU holders, $2B in new issuance and $160B reserved. The founders’ stakes are separate.
The founders are selling $1.85B in the IPO. Employees hold more than 100x that in options and RSUs, and Anthropic has another $160B to grant to the people it hires next.
