A leftist campaign that says billionaires capture the gains from companies like Anthropic is trying to block the initial public offering (IPO) that would let ordinary Americans buy shares in the company.
Five activists were arrested on Monday, Nov. 9, after blocking an employee security entrance at Anthropic’s Manhattan offices. The protesters demanded that the maker of the Claude chatbot cancel its IPO. The next day, Anthropic launched its roadshow for an offering of 825 million shares at an expected price of $70 to $78 each. The company has applied to list on Nasdaq under the ticker “ANT.”
The protesters came from Climate Defenders, New York Communities for Change and Planet Over Profit. Climate Defenders is a sponsor of Stop Funding Billionaires, a coalition of labor, student and community organizations that held #BlockTheIPO rallies outside Anthropic’s New York and San Francisco offices on Oct. 14.
In a press release, the coalition called on pension funds, university endowments and other institutional investors to stay out of billionaire-owned corporations. Its petition sponsors include the Action Center on Race and the Economy, Americans for Financial Reform, the American Association of University Professors and #TeslaTakedown.
The petition calls on banks, pension funds and asset managers to “boycott the Anthropic IPO,” pause all investment in AI and data centers, and pledge never to use taxpayer or retirement money to bail out AI companies. It names JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, Morgan Stanley CEO Ted Pick, Goldman Sachs CEO David M. Solomon, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink and Vanguard CEO Salim Ramji.
It also names New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli, New York City Comptroller Mark Levine and California State Treasurer Fiona Ma. Elizabeth Parisian of the American Association of University Professors said pension managers have a duty to shield the public from the “disastrous and fiscally irresponsible risks that Anthropic’s IPO threatens,” according to The Armchair Trader.
As a private company, Anthropic has been owned by a limited group that includes its founders and employees, venture capital funds, and corporate investors such as Google and Amazon. Once its shares begin trading on Nasdaq, individual investors can buy them through brokerage accounts, and retirement savers can gain exposure through funds that hold the stock.
