Anthropic's leadership is asking shareholders to approve a share structure that would preserve founder control after the company goes public. According to The Information, the company is requesting approval "in the coming days" for a special-class share arrangement that would allocate to CEO Dario Amodei and his six co-founders a combined 50.1% of the vote on most corporate matters, provided at least three of them retain a minimum stake.
Why the proposal?
The move is intended to keep strategic control with the founding team once public trading begins. Super-voting shares are a familiar mechanism — Mark Zuckerberg used them to retain control of Meta, and Evan Spiegel used a similar approach at Snap — but Anthropic's plan is notable for applying the structure collectively across seven founders rather than centering control on a single individual.
Reportedly, each of the seven co-founders, including Dario Amodei, currently owns roughly 2% of the company and they have pledged to donate 80% of their wealth; Amodei announced that commitment in January and warned that AI-driven wealth concentration could threaten social stability. The proposed special shares would not confer additional economic rights, but would secure the group's decision-making authority after an IPO.
Other governance details
The proposal includes additional governance features: Anthropic's Long-Term Benefit Trust would still select the majority of the board; the founders' seats on the board would increase from two to three; and employees would receive their own shares to break ties on certain issues.
Valuation and IPO expectations
Since its founding five years ago, Anthropic has reached very high valuations: it was valued at $965 billion in May, and was recently priced at $1.5 trillion on the secondary market. The upcoming initial public offering is expected to reflect that elevated valuation.
Stakes and implications
Although the special-share plan would not change the founders' immediate economic holdings, it would determine who controls strategic decisions at a company operating in a high-impact area like artificial intelligence. Shareholder approval is expected in the coming days, and the outcome will materially affect Anthropic's future governance and decision-making structure.
