Anthropic’s $2 trillion IPO could create millionaires, but it asks candidates what they would do if the stock went to zero.
With Anthropic targeting a November IPO at a valuation of $1.5 trillion to $2 trillion, potentially eclipsing SpaceX’s record, this first blockbuster could create a new class of wealthy tech workers among its more than 2,500 employees.
But this potential multimillion-dollar windfall for employees appears to worry business leaders. Anthropic reportedly asked candidates in culture interviews how they would feel if the company ever abandoned its AI ambitions for security reasons — and the move sent its stock down to zero, according to Axios.
“I was honest and said no, I wouldn’t be happy if the title dropped to 0,” said one candidate, who discussed the interview process on the anonymous workplace site Blind. “I would like to combine doing the most good and remaining ethical while building a sustainable business.”
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, whose net worth is estimated at $13.6 billion, has reportedly expressed concerns about how the company’s huge financial incentives could affect its ability to retain employees truly committed to its mission. Anthropic, a public benefit corporation, has long sought to distinguish itself from competition like OpenAI by focusing more broadly on AI safety and the “long-term benefit of humanity.”
“Ultimately, mission is why we are all here,” reads the company’s values statement. “This gives us a common goal and allows us to act quickly together, rather than being pulled in multiple directions by competing goals. »
Anthropic shells out base salaries of more than $800,000 as battle for tech talent rages
Anthropic is simultaneously racing to attract the world’s best AI talent while wondering what might happen if that talent becomes extraordinarily wealthy in the process.
The company competes with Meta, Google, Microsoft and OpenAI for the best researchers and engineers, and therefore offers compensation packages that can reach hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Competition is so fierce that Anthropic acknowledged in its Oct. 26 S-1 filing that hiring and retaining qualified employees has become exceptionally difficult, particularly in the San Francisco Bay Area, where the company is headquartered.
“Competition in our industry for hiring and retaining employees with appropriate qualifications and on competitive economic terms is exceptionally intense and has intensified significantly in recent periods,” the company said.
Anthropic currently offers base salaries between $350,000 and $850,000 for software engineer positions, for example. And there is still a lot of work to be done. The company currently has more than 600 open positions, including about 120 in sales, more than 60 in AI research and engineering, and 50 in security.
In order to land an offer after such a competitive process, some candidates would spend upwards of $4,000 on private coaching to help them get hired.
“Spend a few thousand dollars, and now your salary increases by $200,000 — that math makes sense,” said Aline Lerner, founder of prep company Interviewing.io. Bloomberg.
AI-driven wealth boom could create thousands of millionaires, but Amodei warns it could ‘break society’
The potential wealth creation at Anthropic is part of a much larger phenomenon taking place in the AI industry.
Following SpaceX’s $1.77 trillion IPO, thousands of current and former employees, from welders and coders to managers and executives, became millionaires as their companies’ equity values skyrocketed. About 400 current and former SpaceX employees saw their stakes worth more than $100 million.
As AI valuations continue to soar and employees take advantage of stock grants, more people are expected to experience similar wealth booms. However, Amodei warned that the economic benefits of AI could be concentrated on a relatively small group of people. As a result, he and Anthropic’s six other co-founders, including his sister, Daniela Amodei, committed to giving up 80% of their wealth.
“What we need to worry about is a level of wealth concentration that will break society,” Dario Amodei wrote in a letter published earlier this year.
Amodei called out fellow tech leaders who have become increasingly skeptical of philanthropy, arguing that wealthy individuals have a responsibility to help reduce the inequalities that AI could exacerbate.
“Wealthy individuals have an obligation to help solve this problem,” Amodei wrote. “I find it sad that many wealthy people (especially in the tech industry) have recently adopted a cynical and nihilistic attitude that philanthropy is inevitably fraudulent or unnecessary. »
A version of this story was published on Fortune.com on August 25, 2026.
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