Eric Schmidt's fortune is about to get even bigger, because of course it is. The former Google CEO reportedly owns about 1% of Anthropic after investing tens of millions of dollars in the leading AI lab's Series A round in 2021, according to Bloomberg. At the time, the startup was valued at $461 million, per PitchBook data - a figure that now reads like the price of a modest beach house in a universe where beach houses are cheap.

If Bloomberg's estimate holds, Schmidt's stake is remarkably large compared with the 2% held by co-founder and CEO Dario Amodei - meaning Schmidt, an outside investor, owns roughly half as much of Anthropic as the guy who actually runs it. A fun fact for anyone who enjoys the phrase "early backer's bragging rights."

Anthropic is widely expected to go public before the end of the year, with top-end market estimates valuing the company at as much as $2 trillion. At that valuation, Schmidt would add as much as $20 billion to his net worth, which Bloomberg currently puts at $57.5 billion. That's the kind of math that makes one consider a career in venture capital, or at least in being Eric Schmidt.

Schmidt has been an active tech investor since stepping down as Google CEO in 2011, deploying capital through multiple entities including Tomorrow Ventures, Innovation Endeavors Management, and his family office, Hillspire. His other AI bets include Mistral, General Intuition, and Reflection AI - a portfolio that suggests he has a type, and the type is "AI lab with a promising future."

Schmidt and Anthropic didn't immediately respond to our request for comment, presumably because they were busy counting, or not counting, depending on how you feel about $20 billion.