Anthropic cushions its upcoming IPO with a discretionary fund for workers its models might replace
Anthropic wants to put five percent of its shares into a new public benefit fund that will also look into direct payments to workers at risk of losing their jobs. The fund is a company-owned LLC, so Anthropic keeps control of it as a possible IPO approaches. By offering the option of direct payment
Plus AI and society Copy the url to clipboard Share this article Go to comment section Anthropic cushions its upcoming IPO with a discretionary fund for workers its models might replace Maximilian Schreiner View the LinkedIn Profile of Maximilian Schreiner Oct 19, 2026 Anthropic Anthropic is launching a new public benefit fund that will also look into direct payments to workers at risk of losing their jobs. Elon Musk says the company should just give the shares straight to the public.
Anthropic plans to put five percent of its shares into a new " Anthropic Public Benefit Fund." Shareholders still have to approve it. Once they do, the fund will either make large donations to traditional nonprofits or explore direct payouts to "certain populations."
The main focus is disruption in the job market. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has repeatedly warned about social and economic upheaval from fast-moving AI systems. The company already committed $200 million to research these labor market effects. Given how quickly AI is advancing, "bolder approaches" may now be needed, according to the announcement.
For every 50 percent the company's valuation rises above a set baseline, the fund could receive another two percent of shares. Anthropic pitches the fund as the opposite of the growth-linked stock packages tech companies usually hand their executives. The co-founders pledged 80 percent of their shares when they started the company, and employees have a donation-matching program. Anthropic says all of this together puts about 20 percent of the company's equity toward "the public good."
The legal setup, however, shows that Anthropic stays in control. Instead of creating a tax-exempt nonprofit, the company is setting up the fund as a wholly owned LLC subsidiary. Anthropic says this gives it more flexibility in how it hands out money. It also promises not to use the capital for lobbying or political donations, either in the US or abroad.
The promised share top-ups aren't locked in either. According to the announcement, they're at the board's discretion. Anthropic hasn't said which valuation milestones would trigger them or how the fund will be governed. More details are supposed to follow in the coming months.
Control over Anthropic's board rests with the Long-Term Benefit Trust. The trust holds no economic stake but appoints a majority of the directors. After the IPO, the founders are also set to hold 50.1 percent of the votes on major decisions through a special share.
The announcement comes as Anthropic prepares for a major IPO. Just last week, the company hosted investors in San Francisco for full-day presentations after early details from its IPO became public. The planned IPO could raise up to $100 billion and value Anthropic at around $2 trillion. Official filings are expected in the next few weeks.
The closest comparison is the OpenAI Foundation. Since OpenAI's restructuring about a year ago, the foundation has held 26 percent of the for-profit OpenAI Group, a stake worth about $130 billion at the time. It gets more shares if the stock price clears a set threshold after 15 years. Unlike Anthropic's fund, it also appoints the board.
November 2023 showed where that kind of board power ends. Four of the six members of OpenAI's nonprofit board voted to fire CEO Sam Altman. Threats of mass resignations and an offer from Microsoft to hire Altman put the board under pressure. Altman was back within five days, and the board was replaced.
Later, Altman's leadership team tried to strip the nonprofit of control over the for-profit business entirely. OpenAI only backed down after talks with civil society groups and state attorneys general. The foundation owes its current power to appoint the board mostly to that outside pressure. Anthropic's fund likely won't face the same oversight. A company-owned LLC isn't a nonprofit.
Elon Musk responded on X, telling Anthropic to give the shares directly to the public. He said he'd do the same himself. He didn't explain how or when. As an OpenAI co-founder, Musk sued over the company's conversion, but he lost in May 2026 because the statute of limitations had run out. He also runs a competing AI company, xAI, which dropped its public benefit corporation status back in 2024.
Google has no known stock-linked structure like this. The company relies on traditional corporate philanthropy, such as its AI Opportunity Fund, which aims to teach basic AI skills around the world. That fund doesn't include direct payments to affected people.
By explicitly naming direct payments as an option, Anthropic goes further than its competitors, at least in its announcement, as long as Musk's posts on X don't turn into real company strategy.
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