Anthropic’s planned $2T IPO spotlights unusual trustee governance model

As Anthropic moves toward what could be the largest initial public offering in history, attention is shifting from the AI company's technology to an unusual feature of its corporate structure: the Long-Term Benefit Trust, a small panel of outside experts with the authority to appoint and remove most of the company's board of directors.

A Trust Unlike Any Other on Wall Street

The Financial Times reported this week that Anthropic's planned IPO, which investors expect could value the company at $2 trillion or more, is drawing intense scrutiny to the Long-Term Benefit Trust, or LTBT. The trust comprises financially disinterested trustees who hold a special class of voting shares, granting them growing control over Anthropic's board — ultimately a majority within four years of its establishment.anthropic+3

The current trustees include Neil Buddy Shah, Richard Fontaine, and Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar, alongside former Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke, who was appointed in July 2026. Trustees hold no equity in the company and do not share in its profits, a design intended to insulate long-term safety decisions from short-term commercial pressures.andrew+2

Record-Breaking Ambitions Meet Structural Tension

Anthropic confidentially filed its S-1 with the SEC on June 1, 2026, with Morgan Stanley ↘ 2.44%, Goldman Sachs The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. ↘ 1.75%, and JPMorgan ↘ 1.47% leading the offering. The company is targeting a Nasdaq ↘ 0.72% listing as early as October 2026. Anthropic's annualized revenue is expected to reach between $100 billion and $120 billion by year-end, according to the Financial Times, representing tenfold growth from the $47 billion annualized figure reported in May.gradually+3

One Anthropic investor told the Financial Times that a company growing at 800% annually could reasonably command a 30-times-revenue multiple, implying a valuation as high as $3 trillion. Such a debut would surpass SpaceX's $1.77 trillion listing in June.qz

The Public Market Test

The offering will test whether public-market investors will accept a governance arrangement that deliberately limits their influence. The LTBT's authority to shape Anthropic's board means that traditional shareholders could find themselves with less power than they typically hold in a publicly traded company. Analysts have described the structure as meticulously designed to insulate safety mandates from the demands of quarterly earnings cycles.klover+1

The New York Times noted this week that at least 95 investors have stakes in both Anthropic and OpenAI, underscoring how concentrated the AI investment landscape has become ahead of both companies' planned public debuts.nytimes