Anthropic IPO filing highlights trend toward founder-controlled voting

In short: More companies, including Anthropic and Meta, are set up so founders keep control even after raising money from public investors.

What's going on

A Financial Times column points to a growing split in corporate power. Some shareholders have real influence, but many others have little to none, even if they own stock.

Anthropic, the company behind the Claude chatbot, filed for an initial public offering, or IPO (a plan to sell shares to the public). According to the column, Anthropic’s seven founders would hold 50.1% of the voting power on almost every topic. That means everyday shareholders would have almost no ability to outvote them.

Anthropic also has a separate trust that can elect most of the board. A trust is a legal setup that holds power for a specific goal, like a locked box with rules about who can open it. In this case, the goal is described as guarding humankind’s interests, and regular investors would not control it.

The column says Anthropic is also a “public benefit corporation”, or PBC (a company allowed to prioritize a stated mission, not only shareholder value). That can make it harder for shareholders to challenge decisions they dislike. It cites a recent court case involving MPower Financing, which found that shareholders in a PBC do not automatically come first.

Other examples mentioned include Meta, where Mark Zuckerberg has the deciding vote despite owning about 13% of the company, and SpaceX, where Elon Musk has control through special voting shares.

What to watch

Investors may start pricing in the lack of voting power, meaning these stocks could trade for less than similar companies with more normal shareholder rights. Regulators and courts may also face more pressure to clarify what protections smaller shareholders still have.

Source: Financial Times