Former Google chief executive officer Eric Schmidt (에릭 슈미트) is known to hold about a 1 percent stake in artificial intelligence startup Anthropic.

TechCrunch reported on Oct. 20 that Schmidt invested tens of millions of dollars in Anthropic’s Series A round in 2021, and is estimated to have secured the stake as a result.

If the estimate is correct, Schmidt’s holding is not small even compared with the 2 percent stake held by Anthropic co-founder and CEO Dario Amodei (다리오 아모데이). The outlet said Schmidt’s stake is “surprisingly large” compared with Amodei’s holding. Anthropic is being cited as a company with a strong chance of pursuing an initial public offering before year-end.

Market attention is focused less on the stake itself than on the company’s valuation at listing. TechCrunch mentioned that the upper estimate for Anthropic’s IPO valuation could reach as much as $2 trillion. If that level materialises, the value of Schmidt’s stake could swell to as much as $20 billion. Schmidt’s current net worth tallied by Bloomberg is $57.5 billion.

The value of Schmidt’s stake stands out more when compared with the time of the initial investment. According to PitchBook data, Anthropic was valued at $461 million in 2021. That is a wide gap from the IPO valuation now being discussed. The reasons Schmidt deployed large capital at an early stage are drawing renewed attention in this context.

Schmidt has continued technology investments since stepping down as Google CEO in 2011. The investments were made through multiple entities, including Tomorrow Ventures, Innovation Endeavors Management and family office Hillspire. In AI, he also put money into Mistral, General Intuition and Reflection AI.

For Anthropic, the structure of major shareholdings is being highlighted again ahead of a listing. As both co-founders’ stakes and those of external early investors draw attention, what valuation the market will accept in the listing process has emerged as a point to watch.