Eric Schmidt poised for major windfall from Anthropic’s public debut

In 2021, Eric Schmidt wrote a personal check worth tens of millions of dollars to a young AI startup called Anthropic. Five years later, that check may be the best investment of his career. Bloomberg reported on October 19, 2026, that the former Google CEO owns a near 1% stake in Anthropic PBC. With the company’s IPO approaching, that sliver could be worth somewhere between $10 billion and $20 billion, depending on how public markets price the debut. From Series A to blockbuster IPO Schmidt got in early. He bought his position during Anthropic’s 2021 Series A round, which valued the company at $461 million. In May 2026, Anthropic closed a Series H round that raised $65 billion at a post-money valuation of $965 billion. Big backers in that round included Amazon and Google/Alphabet. Google alone holds roughly 14% of the company. Investor discussions ahead of the listing have floated valuations ranging from $1.5 trillion to $2 trillion. At the $965 billion private mark, his roughly 1% would be worth around $10 billion. At a $2 trillion valuation, it could reach as much as $20 billion. The return on that higher scenario would be approximately 4,300 times his original investment. Neithe...