After the Anthropic IPO, who really controls the company?

As Anthropic approaches its IPO, its governance structure will leave ordinary public shareholders with little say over most major decisions, such as the choice of board members. Anthropic is a public benefit corporation whose board is chaired by President Daniela Amodei and includes CEO Dario Amodei, Reed Hastings and others; the Long-Term Benefit Trust (LTBT) holds a class of stock that can elect and remove a majority of board seats, and its members include former Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke and others. Seven founders jointly hold a special class of shares that, when a majority of them agree, carries 50.1% of shareholder voting power and can elect three directors; this control ends ten years after the IPO or when fewer than three founders remain. When the LTBT nominates or removes its designated directors without cause, the board's nominating committee can veto and refer the matter to an employee vote, an arrangement the author says formalizes the employee power seen in the OpenAI board turmoil.