Anthropic commits 5% of its shares to a new Public Benefit Fund

Anthropic announced the Anthropic Public Benefit Fund on October 18. Subject to stockholder approval, 5% of its shares will be committed now, with an additional 2% added at the board's discretion for every 50% increase in the company's value above a set baseline.

The fund is a wholly owned LLC rather than a 501(c)(3), which Anthropic says lets it move between forms of giving, such as large donations to nonprofits or direct distributions to specific groups. Anthropic says none of the equity held by the LLC will be used for lobbying or political giving. It names labor-market impacts as one example, noting it has already committed $200 million to studying and addressing that issue.

Counting its co-founders' pledge to donate 80% of their equity and an employee equity-match program that about half of staff use, Anthropic says roughly 20% of its shares will be dedicated to the public good. It says it will share the fund's structure, governance and valuation milestones in the coming months.