Top-tier Wall Street banks are competing not just for the underwriting mandate of Anthropic's IPO but also for a potentially even larger prize — the hundreds of millions of dollars in wealth that the AI company's employees are expected to accumulate once it goes public.

According to Bloomberg, citing sources familiar with the matter, wealth management divisions at Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, BNY Mellon, JPMorgan Chase, and Wells Fargo have all approached Anthropic. The company is seeking to assemble a roster of advisors for its staff to help them plan for the incoming financial windfall.

Anthropic's public listing is drawing intense market scrutiny. The company is expected to launch its IPO in the coming weeks, with a fundraising size that could match or exceed the $86.2 billion listing of SpaceX. This prospect has made the wealth outlook for its employees particularly noteworthy.

Anthropic Casts a Wide Net for Wealth Management Proposals

Anthropic has requested proposals from financial institutions regarding their wealth management services, asking them to disclose fees, service offerings, and operational details. The company formally issued this request for information recently, and beyond the major banks listed above, several smaller boutique firms and advisory companies have also responded.

Brandon Smith of Laird Norton Wetherby, a wealth management firm that has submitted information to Anthropic, said his company had already been in contact with multiple Anthropic employees. He called it "very reasonable" that Anthropic's IPO would create a large cohort of new millionaires.

"AI has experienced such a meteoric rise in a short period that even if employees received equity only two years ago, the eventual payout could be extremely substantial," he said. "It's essentially a lottery ticket."

Employees Face Wealth Management Challenges; Silicon Valley Precedents Abound

For many tech company employees, sudden wealth often comes with confusion about how to manage it properly. Anthropic's case is the latest example in this cycle of Silicon Valley IPOs.

Ahead of SpaceX's listing, more than 1,000 current and former employees banded together to negotiate collectively with wealth management firms, securing better fee terms and more sophisticated tax-optimized financial products. This case demonstrates that startup employees are willing to put in considerable effort to secure more favorable wealth management arrangements when facing massive wealth.

Anthropic employees face a particularly unique situation. Due to the company's valuation appreciating sharply in an extremely short timeframe, some employees have held equity for no more than two years yet may face a wealth realization far exceeding initial expectations. For engineers or researchers lacking professional financial expertise, this undoubtedly poses a significant challenge.

Wealth Management Becomes the New Battleground for Wall Street

Anthropic's selection process for wealth management partners reflects the multi-layered competitive landscape Wall Street faces around the Silicon Valley IPO boom. Major banks are not only vying for IPO underwriting positions but also hoping to establish long-term wealth management relationships with newly minted high-net-worth tech elites.

For institutions like Goldman Sachs and Bank of America, locking in Anthropic employees as clients ahead of time means gaining an early advantage before the wealth is even created. Once established, such relationships tend to have strong client stickiness and can generate sustained asset management revenue.

Anthropic's IPO timeline has not been finalized, but the competition for this anticipated "wealth feast" has already kicked off well before the event.