Former Google CEO Schmidt Holds 1 Percent Stake in AI Firm Anthropic

The disclosed investment connects one of Silicon Valley's most prominent technology executives to a company that is positioning itself as a direct competitor to Google's own AI products.

Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt owns a 1 percent equity stake in Anthropic, the artificial intelligence safety company, according to a Bloomberg report published October 19, 2026, as cited by Channel NewsAsia.

Anthropic was founded in 2021 by Dario Amodei and Daniela Amodei, along with several other former OpenAI researchers. The company is headquartered in San Francisco and develops large language models under the Claude brand name. It competes directly in the generative AI market against Google's Gemini models, OpenAI's ChatGPT, and Meta's Llama series.

Schmidt served as CEO of Google from 2001 to 2011 and as executive chairman of Alphabet, Google's parent company, until 2017. Since leaving Alphabet's board in 2020, he has become an active technology investor and policy adviser, including serving on the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence, which concluded its work in 2021 with a report recommending expanded federal AI investment.

A 1 percent stake in Anthropic carries significant implied value. In a funding round closed in March 2025, Anthropic was valued at approximately 61.5 billion dollars, according to reporting by The Wall Street Journal at that time. At that valuation, a 1 percent holding would represent an interest worth roughly 615 million dollars, though the precise terms, share class, and current valuation associated with Schmidt's specific stake were not detailed in the Bloomberg report as summarized by Channel NewsAsia.

The disclosure raises questions about potential conflicts of interest, given Schmidt's ongoing advisory roles in United States government technology and defense circles. Schmidt chairs the Special Competitive Studies Project, a nonprofit focused on U.S. Technology competitiveness, and has advised multiple federal agencies on AI policy. Whether any of those advisory roles involve direct oversight of or policy recommendations affecting Anthropic is not established by the current source material. A full accounting of Schmidt's government advisory scope would be required to determine whether any conflict exists under applicable federal rules.

Anthropic has itself been the recipient of substantial government-adjacent investment. Amazon committed up to 4 billion dollars in investment in Anthropic beginning in 2023, according to Amazon's public announcement at the time. Google has also invested in Anthropic, having contributed several hundred million dollars in a separate arrangement disclosed in 2023, according to reporting by Reuters. The coexistence of Google's corporate investment in Anthropic and Schmidt's personal stake adds a further layer of complexity to the relationship between the former CEO and his former employer's strategic partner.

The Bloomberg report does not indicate when Schmidt acquired his stake, through what mechanism, or whether the investment was made as part of a named funding round. Those details would be necessary to establish the full timeline of his involvement with the company.

Anthropic has raised more than 12 billion dollars in total funding as of early 2026, according to the company's public statements. It employs more than 800 people and has expanded its enterprise customer base to include financial services, healthcare, and government contractors, sectors that intersect directly with policy areas where Schmidt has advised federal bodies.

The AI industry's concentration of investment among a relatively small number of former technology executives and current policymakers has drawn increasing scrutiny from members of Congress on both sides of the aisle, though no legislation specifically regulating such dual roles has been enacted as of October 2026. The Senate Commerce Committee held hearings on AI governance in 2025, but the question of personal investment disclosures by government advisers was not a central focus of those proceedings, according to publicly available committee records.