Bay Area home listings offer to accept Anthropic or OpenAI stock

In short: A few home sellers in the San Francisco Bay Area are advertising that they may accept Anthropic or OpenAI stock instead of cash.

What's going on

Several real estate listings in Northern California are tying home prices to shares in two AI companies, Anthropic and OpenAI. One example is 160 Noe Street in San Francisco, listed at $2.9 million, or an “equivalent” amount of Anthropic or OpenAI shares based on the companies’ estimated values.

The listing agent, Rachel Swann, told Wired she got the idea after meeting Anthropic employees who had “paper wealth.” That means they may own shares that look valuable on paper, but are hard to turn into spendable money because the company is not publicly traded (like having store credit that you cannot easily cash out).

Other sellers are trying similar approaches. An investment banker in Mill Valley reportedly offered to trade a home and extra land for Anthropic shares. In Healdsburg, a homeowner listed a property for $2.5 million, or $2 million in Anthropic stock, and offered a discount to Anthropic employees.

This comes as interest in these companies’ shares grows ahead of possible stock market debuts. Wired reported that Anthropic has submitted paperwork for an initial public offering, which is the process a company uses to sell shares to the public for the first time.

What to watch

Actually trading private company shares for a house may be difficult. A luxury agent told Wired that escrow companies, which act like a neutral “middle person” holding money during a sale, typically cannot handle securities like private shares. Anthropic has also warned that unauthorized sales of its stock can be invalid without board approval. If more listings appear, expect questions about legality, paperwork, and whether any deals truly close.

Source: Wired