Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt’s early bet on artificial intelligence startup Anthropic could be worth as much as $20 billion when the company goes public, according to a report.
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company → go → report
The 71-year-old tech billionaire owns roughly 1% of the company behind the Claude chatbot after investing tens of millions of dollars in its 2021 Series A funding round, Bloomberg reported Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter.
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Bloomberg → own → matter
Investors recently pegged Anthropic’s potential valuation at between $1.8 trillion and $2 trillion ahead of its highly anticipated initial public offering, according to Bloomberg.
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Investors → peg → Bloomberg
Even at Anthropic’s most recent valuation of $965 billion, Schmidt’s reported stake would be worth nearly $10 billion on paper.
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stake → report → paper
Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index puts Schmidt’s existing fortune at $57.5 billion.
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Index → put → billion
A $2 trillion valuation for Anthropic would push his estimated wealth to nearly $80 billion on paper, based on his reported stake.
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valuation → push → stake
Schmidt participated in Anthropic’s initial major fundraising round in 2021, when the startup was valued at $461 million, according to PitchBook data cited by Bloomberg.
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startup → participate → Bloomberg
A $2 trillion valuation would represent a more than 4,300-fold increase from that early benchmark.
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valuation → represent → benchmark
Schmidt and Anthropic declined to comment to Bloomberg, which said it could not determine whether the billionaire had sold any of his shares since his initial investment.
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billionaire → decline → investment
Anthropic could begin marketing its IPO to investors as soon as the week of Nov. 9, potentially paving the way for shares to begin trading before Thanksgiving, Bloomberg reported.
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Bloomberg → begin → Thanksgiving
Anthropic’s seven co-founders, meanwhile, are each worth an estimated $8 billion on paper, according to Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index.
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founders → estimate → Index
Schmidt has also built a sprawling portfolio of technology investments through firms including TomorrowVentures and Innovation Endeavors, as well as his family office, Hillspire.
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Schmidt → build → TomorrowVentures
More recently, Schmidt has poured money into AI startups including Mistral AI, Reflection AI and World Labs, according to Bloomberg.
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Schmidt → pour → Bloomberg
At a $2 trillion valuation, his Anthropic investment would outperform Innovation Endeavors’ early bet on Uber, whose valuation surged roughly 1,400-fold to $82 billion by the time it went public in 2019, Bloomberg reported.
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Bloomberg → outperform → 2019
Anthropic leapfrogged rival OpenAI in valuation after raising $65 billion in May, with venture capital firms Altimeter Capital, Dragoneer, Greenoaks and Sequoia Capital each investing more than $2 billion, according to Bloomberg.
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firms → leapfrog → Bloomberg
Other major backers of the Claude chatbot maker include tech giants Alphabet, Amazon, Nvidia and Microsoft.
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backers → include → giants
Anthropic’s stock market debut could match or eclipse the $1.77 trillion valuation achieved by SpaceX in its record-setting June IPO, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
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Bloomberg → match → matter
Schmidt was also romantically linked to Alexandra Duisberg, with Page Six reporting that the pair split in 2019 before reconnecting the following year.
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pair → link → 2019
More recently, the former Google chief fueled speculation about his love life after appearing at events alongside Gloria-Sophie Burkandt, the daughter of a German politician, earlier this year.
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chief → fuel → politician
A source close to Schmidt, however, characterized their relationship as a friendship rather than a romance, according to published reports.
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source → characterize → reports
A rep for Schmidt declined to comment when reached by The Post.
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rep → decline → Post
The Aporia
