More or Less · Topics · Episode #163
The Secret Trust That Controls Anthropic's Board (and Dario's $40B Stake)
Clip from the full recording, 22:55–26:22 · download mp4 · watch at this point on YouTube
Jess reveals Anthropic has a little-known "Anthropic Trust" -- with Ben Bernanke among its members -- that picks the board and will keep outsized power even after IPO, while the group does the math on what a mere 2% stake is worth to Dario Amodei.
Before getting to OpenAI’s troubles, Jess drops a fact most listeners haven’t heard: beyond the well-covered oddities of OpenAI’s nonprofit structure, Anthropic has its own “Anthropic Trust” – a body of up to five people (only three seats currently filled) that picks Anthropic’s board members and holds special powers that persist through an IPO, including super-voting shares for the co-founders. One of the three sitting members is Ben Bernanke, prompting Sam’s joke that it must irritate Larry Summers, who plays the equivalent advisory role at OpenAI.
Jess then poses the real numbers question: if Dario Amodei owns just 2% of Anthropic, is that a lot or a little? Sam does the math instantly – roughly $40 billion – while Brit is surprised it isn’t more, wondering how many of Anthropic’s reported eight-to-ten co-founders hold similarly outsized stakes given the company’s heavy dilution from fundraising. Sam turns it into a broader point about the coming wealth shock: San Francisco is about to have dozens of people (Anthropic’s co-founders, plus OpenRouter’s founder) each worth tens of billions, which he calls “a weird egalitarian wealth play” – a different order of magnitude from a single-founder wealth event.
Key points
- Anthropic Trust: a body of up to five people (three currently seated, including Ben Bernanke) that selects Anthropic's board and retains power through an IPO, alongside co-founder super-voting shares.
- Sam jokes Bernanke's role must irritate Larry Summers, who plays an equivalent advisory role at OpenAI.
- Dario Amodei's 2% Anthropic stake is worth roughly $40 billion by Sam's back-of-envelope math.
- Brit is surprised Dario's stake isn't larger given his central role, and questions how much dilution came from fundraising with 8-10 co-founders.
- Sam frames the moment as an unusual "egalitarian" wealth event: dozens of people (Anthropic co-founders, OpenRouter's founder) about to be worth tens of billions each, unlike a typical single-founder wealth story.
- Jess plugs The Information's exclusive profile of Dario's wife, Cammy Clark, including her prior romantic-turned-business relationship with Eric Schmidt.
Where they landed
Quotes
“Bernanke must really -- that must really piss off Larry Summers, 'cause it's like he is their Larry Summers.”— Sam
“It's forty billion dollars.”— Sam
“What's it gonna be like to have fifty people running around San Francisco with forty billion dollars each?”— Sam
Suggested tweets
Anthropic has a secret “Anthropic Trust” that picks the board and keeps power through IPO. One of its three members: Ben Bernanke.
Tweet this →Dario Amodei owns just 2% of Anthropic. Sam Lessin's instant math: “It's forty billion dollars.”
Tweet this →Fifty people about to walk around San Francisco with forty billion dollars each. Sam Lessin calls it “a weird egalitarian wealth play.”
Tweet this →All topics · Full episode #163 + transcript · Subscribe on YouTube · Spotify