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epsteingpt | on: Anthropic S-1
According to "Generally Accepted Accounting Principle" my friend.

They are costs.

Derivative liabilities, SAFEs - those are basically taking cash from RETAIL shareholders and giving them to employees and early investors INSTEAD of using it to fund the business.

Let's have that discussion if you want, but don't act like a thing that is CLEARLY a COST to the business isn't a cost.

brainwad | parent | next
SAFEs work like equity in the upside case, and nobody ever says that it costs a company money when its stock price goes up and so its shareholders have more money. It's a bug in GAAP that if there's even a remote possibility of cash settlement, it has to be included on the income statement, even when that possibility is absurd, as it is here.
alex_c | parent | next
Okay, so expand on that.

How do we expect this $72B number to change over time - especially after the IPO? Is it a one-time event, will it keep increasing by $xxB per quarter?

When and how will the "chickens come home to roost", so to speak? What's the timeline on these liabilities? Will Anthropic need to settle them in cash, or in shares after a potential IPO?

How big is this number compared to Anthropic's potential market cap and share float?

I'm not trying to make a specific point, by the way, that Anthropic's business is healthy or unhealthy.

I'm approaching this discussion with curiosity, and irritated that "$81B net loss in first 6 months of 2026 alone" is a thought-terminating simplification that makes no attempt to analyze or explain the actual situation.

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matt3210 | parent | next
You're arguing with Opus my friend.
vanuatu | parent
Huh? what retail shareholders?