How FTX’s $1.34 Billion Anthropic Bet Could’ve Turned into a $30 Billion Goldmine — And What It Means for Your Next Big Investment Move

How FTX’s $1.34 Billion Anthropic Bet Could’ve Turned into a $30 Billion Goldmine — And What It Means for Your Next Big Investment Move

Sometimes in business, timing isn’t just everything — it’s the difference between a billion-dollar feast and a mere snack. Take the FTX bankruptcy estate’s 2024 sale of its Anthropic stake: offloaded for a “modest” $1.34 billion back then, yet that same slice of the AI giant’s pie now flirts with a jaw-dropping valuation north of $30 billion — potentially even $45 billion — as Anthropic gears up for a Nasdaq debut estimated at a staggering $1.4 trillion. Makes you wonder: Was that sell-off a savvy move, or did the creditors let a gold mine slip through their fingers? With shares initially snapped up at around $30 apiece and now potentially soaring above double digits in the tens of billions, this situation perfectly illustrates how fast fortunes can morph in today’s tech and investment landscape. Strap in, because the road from FTX’s bankruptcy papers to Anthropic’s sky-high IPO reveals a slice of financial drama that’s as fascinating as it is bittersweet. LEARN MORE

The bankruptcy estate’s 2024 sale looks very different as Anthropic prepares a Nasdaq listing at a valuation of up to $1.4 trillion

In 2024, the FTX bankruptcy estate sold its entire stake in Anthropic for approximately $1.34 billion. With Anthropic now preparing for a Nasdaq IPO, that same block of shares is estimated to be worth between $30 billion and $45 billion.

How the sale came together

FTX and its sister trading firm Alameda put $500 million into Anthropic back in 2021. After the exchange landed in bankruptcy, the estate offloaded the full position across two transactions in 2024.

The first round, in March and April, brought in about $884 million. The second, in June, added roughly $452 million.

Shares changed hands at around $30 each. The stake was spread across 38 buyers.

The largest single block, worth $500 million, went to ATIC Third International Investment, an entity linked to Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala.

On paper, the estate did well. Turning $500 million into approximately $1.34 billion delivered a profit of around $800 million.

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By the time of the sale, though, FTX’s slice had shrunk. Its initial holding of about 13.56% after the investment had been diluted to roughly 7.84% to 8% of Anthropic’s shares as the AI company raised more money.

Anthropic’s march toward a trillion-dollar listing

Anthropic is gearing up to list on Nasdaq under the ticker ANT, with the debut projected for around November 19.

According to the company’s updated S-1 filing, it plans to price shares between $70 and $78. At the top of that range, the offering would imply a fully diluted valuation of approximately $1.4 trillion.

The IPO also comes with a concurrent $26 billion placement to firms including Google and Nvidia.

The listing follows a funding round in May 2026 that valued Anthropic at $965 billion.

After a 10-for-1 stock split, the position amounts to approximately 445.4 million shares, roughly 2.5% of Anthropic’s fully diluted share count.

Depending on where the stock ultimately prices and trades, that stake is now valued somewhere between $30 billion and $45 billion.

What this means

For FTX creditors, the gap between approximately $1.34 billion and a possible $30 billion or more is wide enough to sting.

The 38 purchasers, led by the Mubadala-linked ATIC Third International Investment, bought at around $30 per share and are now holding a position that the IPO math values many times higher.

A fully diluted valuation of up to $1.4 trillion would put the company in rarefied territory. The S-1 range is a target, not a guarantee, and IPO pricing can shift with market conditions right up to the listing date.

The key dates to watch are the final pricing and the projected November 19 debut.

Disclosure: This article was edited by John Chen. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.

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