Anthropic IPO Prep: Amazon and Alphabet Give You a Stake

Anthropic, the company behind the Claude AI models, is on track for one of the most anticipated public offerings in years, reportedly at a valuation near $1 trillion.

However, not all investors can buy into Anthropic yet. Two members of the 'Magnificent Seven' already own significant pieces of it: Amazon (AMZN) and Alphabet (GOOGL). With just $500, you can invest in both companies, which gives you a stake in Anthropic ahead of its debut.

Amazon is Anthropic's largest corporate backer, having committed roughly $33 billion to the AI lab with a pledge to invest tens of billions more. This stake is worth over $100 billion. The relationship between Amazon and Anthropic goes beyond money, as Anthropic has agreed to spend over $100 billion on Amazon Web Services and Trainium chips, making Amazon an anchor customer for its most profitable division.

Alphabet owns around 14% of Anthropic, a stake worth approximately $135 billion at recent valuations. Anthropic has committed to spending about $200 billion on Google Cloud over five years. In addition to their stakes in Anthropic, investors get exposure to Google Search, YouTube, and the Gemini AI models.

The catch is that these stakes are still modest compared to Amazon's and Alphabet's multitrillion-dollar market caps. The 'AI profits' both companies have reported lately come partly from marking up the paper value of their stakes in Anthropic, which can reverse if sentiment sours.