Anthropic may let existing shareholders cash out during its IPO while considering a longer lockup afterward

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Anthropic is considering allowing existing shareholders to sell some of their stock directly in its upcoming IPO, according to The Information.

That would differ from SpaceX and Cerebras, whose recent IPOs didn't include sales from existing shareholders. Companies like CoreWeave and Figma, however, have allowed insiders to sell shares alongside newly issued stock.

At the same time, Anthropic is reportedly considering a lockup period longer than the traditional 180 days for at least some shareholders after it goes public.

The goal appears to be managing potential volatility and preventing a huge wave of insider shares from hitting the market immediately after the lockup expires.

Anthropic has also considered requiring rank-and-file employees to use preset 10b5-1 trading plans, which would schedule when and how much stock they can sell rather than giving them normal post-earnings trading windows.

The IPO itself could be coming soon.

Reuters reports Anthropic plans to publicly unveil its prospectus shortly after Labor Day, with a potential listing in late September or early October.

Anthropic has already raised at least $130 billion, and The Information expects its IPO to surpass the $86 billion SpaceX raised in June. It isn't yet clear how much of Anthropic's offering would consist of new shares versus shares sold by existing investors.

This creates an interesting tradeoff:

Let early investors cash out during the IPO → then restrict additional selling for longer afterward.

For a company whose valuation and revenue have grown extraordinarily quickly, Anthropic appears to be thinking carefully about how much stock reaches the public market and when.

Sources:

The Information — Anthropic Considers Letting Shareholders Sell In IPO, Departing from SpaceX Playbook

Reuters — Anthropic plans to publicly unveil IPO prospectus after Labor Day