Microsoft shares fall as Anthropic launches Office rivals

Microsoft ↘ 2.20% shares fell on Tuesday, November 10, after Anthropic introduced workplace tools that compete directly with parts of Office. The stock opened roughly flat and closed down 2.2%, Barron's News Corp ↗ 1.64% reported. Around midday it had been down 3% in a sudden drop, CNBC reported. Other software stocks fell with it. The iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF ↘ 1.11%, where Microsoft is the largest holding, slid about 2%, according to Investor's Business Daily.barrons.com+2

What Anthropic launched

At a San Francisco event, Anthropic released Claude Sheets and Claude Whiteboards in beta and announced a meeting assistant called Claude Meetings, The Verge reported. Its data tool, previously called Claude Dashboards, was renamed Claude Data and made generally available. "Starting today, Claude can build spreadsheets, whiteboards, and dashboards with your team," the company said, according to Business Insider. The new tools join Claude's existing Docs, Slides, Design and Motion features, which together look like an early productivity suite, The Register noted.businessinsider.com+2

Anthropic did not pitch Sheets as a full replacement for Excel. Product leader Nicholas Lin told Bloomberg that Sheets is relatively basic and not built for complex financial modeling, Investing.com reported. Users who need more can export files to Excel or use the Claude for Excel add-in, Forbes Middle East reported.sg.finance.yahoo.com+1

Investors stay measured

Barron's argued against panic. It said the modest drop suggests investors want hard proof that customers are moving from Excel to Claude Sheets before selling heavily. It also noted that the software ETF is up 34% since its April 10 low, after the spring selloff driven by Anthropic's AI tools. Microsoft 365 revenue rose 17% year over year in the latest quarter to $27.8 billion, the outlet added. Microsoft declined to comment.barrons.com

Earlier in the session, Microsoft had passed Nvidia ↘ 5.47% to become the world's second most valuable company. Nvidia took the spot back once Microsoft shares fell, Invezz reported.invezz.com

A rival and a partner

The two companies are tied closely together. Microsoft is an anchor investor in Anthropic's pending IPO, and Anthropic is set to pay Microsoft up to $49.2 billion for computing capacity through 2033. Microsoft is also among the investors in a $26 billion private placement linked to the offering, along with Google, Nvidia and AMD Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. ↗ 1.30%. Google's parent is Alphabet ↘ 0.38%.sg.finance.yahoo.com+1

Anthropic started its IPO roadshow on the same day. It is offering 825 million shares at an expected $70 to $78 each and plans to list on Nasdaq ↗ 1.40% under the ticker "ANT," Forbes Middle East reported. The company aims to price the deal on November 18, according to Business Insider. "Microsoft succeeds if Anthropic succeeds," Barron's wrote.forbesmiddleeast.com+1