Anthropic employees stand to get gigantic windfalls after the AI lab's initial public offering.
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When OpenAI and Anthropic hit the public markets, a whole lot of employees are going to become gobsmackingly rich. That means it's time for some high-stakes financial planning.Both AI labs recently filed initial paperwork to go public, preparing to turn their nearly $1 trillion in private valuations into stock-market windfalls. For employees, life-changing money is on its way.The workers behind Claude and ChatGPT have major decisions to make. When should they sell their shares? Is it a good time to shell out for a multimillion-dollar house in San Francisco? What's the right way to donate to charity?When these workers aren't getting advice from their chatbots, they turn to accountants and money managers. Business Insider spoke with several financial planners who are already working with OpenAI and Anthropic employees to learn what tax and planning tips the advisors are giving them.OpenAI and Anthropic workers need to know what they've gotEvery financial planner Business Insider spoke with offered the same advice: know what you've got.For example, Mark Cecchini, a wealth planning advisor, said that one of his clients at Anthropic has worked at the company for only three years and already has a whopping $40 million in vested equity, with another $30 million still to vest.These workers won't be able to sell their shares on IPO day to use all that money immediately. Companies and banks typically impose a lock-up period for employees, delaying when they can cash out. SpaceX revealed its lock-up structure only a few weeks before its initial public offering this June.
