The founders of Anthropic intend to retain control following the company’s public offering. As reported by The Information, the firm is seeking shareholder approval for a structure “in the upcoming days” that would grant CEO Dario Amodei and his six co-founders special shares representing a total of 50.1% of the voting rights on most business decisions, provided that at least three of them maintain a minimum ownership stake.

This concept is not novel; super-voting shares are how Mark Zuckerberg maintained control over Meta, and how Evan Spiegel held onto Snap. The examples are numerous. What is distinctive is the collective approach.

What’s the rationale? Each of the seven co-founders reportedly owns only 2% of the company, including Amodei, and they have committed to donating 80% of their assets, a promise made by the CEO in January, coupled with a caution that AI-induced wealth concentration could threaten societal stability. The new shares do not have additional economic value, but they would safeguard the group’s authority once the company begins to trade publicly.

There are also complexities: Anthropic’s Long-Term Benefit Trust would still appoint the majority of the board; the founders’ board representation would increase from two to three; and employees would receive their own stock to resolve certain disputes.

Founded five years ago, Anthropic was valued at $965 billion in May. The company has recently been valued at $1.5 trillion in the secondary market, and its forthcoming IPO is anticipated to mirror that new valuation.