Eric Schmidt reportedly holds about 1% of Anthropic ahead of planned IPO

Eric Schmidt, Google's former chief executive, reportedly holds roughly 1% of Anthropic as the AI developer prepares for a public offering. People familiar with the matter say he invested tens of millions of dollars during its first major funding round. Neither Anthropic nor Schmidt's representatives immediately confirmed the reported holding.

Anthropic previously identified Schmidt as an investor in its $124 million Series A, announced in May 2021. Jaan Tallinn led that financing, which also included Dustin Moskovitz and other backers. The announcement did not disclose Schmidt's individual investment or ownership percentage.

The reported stake draws attention to the early investors behind the company that develops Claude. Amazon and Google subsequently became major financial backers and providers of computing infrastructure. It remains unclear whether Schmidt has sold shares since his initial investment, leaving his current exposure and any eventual proceeds unconfirmed.