What interests me most about Anthropic's IPO is its 940 employees. This is the total number of employees at the end of 2024. If Anthropic ultimately goes public at $2 trillion, the average equity held by those who joined in 2024 alone could be worth $200 million to $300 million. Anthropic, the company that created Claude, was only founded in January 2021, yet it publicly filed its prospectus this October. SpaceX took 24 years to go public with a valuation of $1.77 trillion. If Anthropic can list at $2 trillion, it will break this IPO valuation record in less than six years. How much difference in equity can there be between joining the same company and joining just one year apart? Andrew Benson used data from the prospectus to calculate, assuming a listing valuation of $2 trillion, the average book equity per employee across different tiers would be approximately: • Employees who joined by the end of 2023 | Approximately 300-500 | $110 million-$400 million • Employees who joined in 2024 | Approximately 440-640 | $200 million-$300 million • Employees who joined in 2025 | Approximately 1,360 | $70 million-$95 million • Employees who joined in the first three quarters of 2026 | Approximately 3,000 | $10 million-$20 million This estimate combines the company's annual equity issuance with the number of employees. The final amount an individual will receive depends on the initial share allocation, the vesting percentage, and the resale price after the lock-up period expires. How many people are there in Taiwan? Official statistics are currently unavailable regarding the number of Taiwanese nationals, employees working in Taiwan, and the total number of employees across Asia. There are figures available for the Japanese team, which has grown from 3 to over 50 people in one year. Anthropic is also recruiting to handle business for Taiwanese semiconductor and manufacturing clients, with the work location in Singapore. As for Asian salaries, there's a reference point: a research economist job posting in Singapore lists an annual salary of approximately 310,000 to 330,000 Singapore dollars. As for the exact number of shares held by Asian employees, the company hasn't disclosed this, so the table above cannot be directly applied. So, if you have a friend working at Anthropic, next time you're out for a meal, you can start by asking, "What year did you join?" If he says 2024, the person sitting across from you might just be a near-billionaire, and in US dollars no less. You can split the bill for now and make another appointment after his stock lock-up period ends.