Anthropic's $48bn gift comes with a board it still controls

Five percent of Anthropic's shares, worth roughly $48 billion at its last reported valuation, is heading into a new Public Benefit Fund structured as an LLC rather than a conventional charity, a deliberate choice that lets the company direct cash payments, job-displacement research and nonprofit grants without the reporting rigidity of a 501(c)(3), as Anthropic's own announcement sets out. The board can add another 2% for every 50% rise in valuation, but hasn't disclosed the baseline, which means Anthropic itself decides how fast the fund grows. Combined with founder pledges and staff equity donations, the company says up to 20% of its stock could end up earmarked for public benefit. None of that changes who runs Anthropic day to day. The real test lands when the IPO prospectus discloses governance mechanics alongside the separate Long-Term Benefit Trust, which already controls board appointments without owning any economic stake.