In 2021, a group of employees at OpenAI left to start a new company focused on the safe development of artificial intelligence. They named it Anthropic, a word that means “relating to humanity.” Later this month, that company is expected to make its debut on Wall Street in what could be one of the largest initial public offerings in history. But the move raises a fundamental question: Can a company put humanity first while also answering to Wall Street?
The IPO is a monumental development for the AI boom and will put a spotlight on how investors feel about the maker of the Claude chatbot. The stock market debut also marks a new chapter for Anthropic that will test whether it can balance its mission of safely developing AI with the pressures of being a publicly traded company.
Anthropic has a special ownership structure designed to help the company stick to its original goals, balance profit growth with its mission and keep investors from staging a takeover. The structure includes a group of trustees who have majority control of the board of directors, as well as a special class of shares that ensures the seven founders own a majority of the general shareholder voting power.
With its mission for safe AI and its unorthodox corporate structure, Anthropic’s Wall Street debut can be viewed as a guinea pig for AI frontier labs and how they are received by investors.
Anthropic is registered as a public benefit corporation, or PBC. These types of companies are legally required to balance the interests of shareholders with the company’s stated mission. It’s different from a traditional company that focuses primarily on maximizing shareholder value.
“The governance structure for Anthropic is very unique,” said Gil Luria, head of technology research at financial services firm D.A. Davidson. “They spell it out. They’re very upfront about it.”
Anthropic described its “tripartite goals” as a PBC in its S-1 filing: “the pecuniary interest of our stockholders, the best interest of those materially affected by our conduct and the Company Purpose.”
Just a fraction of publicly traded companies are PBCs. Patagonia, which is privately held, and eyewear retailer Warby Parker (WRBY) are both PBCs.
PBCs can choose what they want to do with corporate profits and invest as much as they want in safety measures. And investors have little power to do anything about it. Anthropic rival OpenAI became a PBC in 2025.
“Anthropic is explicit about that, that they believe that there will be instances where they choose not to maximize shareholder value because of the judgments that they make, the board and the leadership team,” Luria said.
“Growing the company and enjoying profitability are part of the goal, so it’s not that it’s contrary to the goal,” he added. “It’s just that they’re saying that there may be some cases where that is not the goal, or they seek other goals, even at the expense of growth and profitability.”
Anthropic’s seven founders collectively have 50.1% of the voting rights at the company, which means regular shareholders won’t have any say in its operations. This is a variation of a trend in Big Tech companies in recent years that have had structures where the founders retain majority control, like Mark Zuckerberg at Meta and Elon Musk at SpaceX.
It’s not just that the founders have majority control. Anthropic in 2023 established the Long-Term Benefit Trust (LTBT), which is composed of five subject-matter experts who have no financial stake in the company’s stock. However, they have special non-financial shares with the authority to appoint four directors to the seven-person company board.
The LTBT members include Neil Buddy Shah, CEO at the Clinton Health Access Initiative; and Ben Bernanke, a former chair of the Federal Reserve. There is one vacancy in the LTBT that has yet to be filled.
“The LTBT may have interests that differ from yours, and it may exercise its power in a way with which you disagree or in a way that may be adverse to your interests,” Anthropic says in a filing with the SEC, referring to shareholders.
When a company goes public, there can be more pressure to grow profits and deliver strong results for shareholders. But Anthropic and CEO Dario Amodei have also talked about the risk of AI causing tremendous harm to humanity if placed in the wrong hands. Anthropic’s IPO filing includes more than 90 pages of risk disclosures, varying from how AI can be misused by bad actors to the possibility of existential risk to humanity.
“While this Long-Term Benefit Trust has a lot of power, the founders also have a lot of power. But, you know, in both cases, public shareholders don’t have the power,” said Jay Ritter, professor emeritus at the University of Florida and an expert in IPOs.
If there are growing concerns about AI, the founders and LTBT can make decisions for the company that impact the value of shares without any consideration for investors. In theory, it can help the company stick to its mission — but it remains to be seen how the structure will function until an event forces the company to act.
Anthropic’s ownership structure won’t matter as much if profits are strong and it follows its mission of developing safe AI. But it will be stress-tested if earnings aren’t as strong as expected, safety issues arise, or disagreements fester between the board, founders or trustees, Luria at D.A. Davidson said.
“The strangest aspect of Anthropic’s filing is its corporate governance structure,” Jay Goldberg, senior analyst at Seaport Research Partners, wrote in a note. “We believe this is the largest PBC and the full implications of this structure will take time to become apparent.”
“We believe this structure gives the LTBT and the founders effective permanent control of the company,” Goldberg added.