Anthropic Stock Pushes Zoom Investment Into Spotlight as AI Valuation Tops $380 Billion
Investors hunting for anthropic stock exposure are eyeing Zoom after the software company’s $51 million investment in the AI start-up has surged in value amid a $380 billion valuation and a rumored public offering later this year.
Anthropic Stock and the Zoom connection
Zoom bought into the start-up in 2023 with a $51 million stake; Wall Street analysts now estimate that stake could be worth between $2 billion and $4 billion, and some projections place it near $5 billion at the time of an initial public offering. Zoom’s market capitalization stood at $26 billion as of Feb. 24, and the company held roughly $8 billion in cash on its balance sheet, figures that investors are weighing when valuing the firm’s Anthropic exposure.
How a big valuation shifts Zoom’s balance sheet
If Zoom’s Anthropic stake were valued at $5 billion at IPO, that holding would represent close to 20% of Zoom’s $26 billion market cap on Feb. 24, and the company’s enterprise value could fall toward $13 billion under those assumptions. Zoom’s revenue rose 4. 4% year over year in the most recent quarter, and the firm posted $1. 1 billion in operating earnings over the last 12 months — concrete financial anchors that investors cite when weighing the upside from the Anthropic stake.
Valuation scale: $380 billion and what it suggests
Anthropic is described as a disruptive AI lab building no-code tools for software development, and its valuation is now in the hundreds of billions, with a headline figure of $380 billion cited in recent coverage. Analysts and projections in the market have sketched aggressive growth scenarios — one noted path assumes 10x year-over-year revenue growth through 2026 that would push the company toward tens of billions in revenue — but those outcomes remain conditional and tied to future performance.
What an IPO would mean for investors and Zoom shareholders
Because individual investors cannot yet buy Anthropic shares directly, some are looking at listed companies with early stakes as a way to gain exposure. Zoom’s 2023 $51 million investment is the most-cited example; depending on dilution from follow-on financings, the stake’s estimated value range of $2 billion to $4 billion — or a possible $5 billion at IPO — would materially change how investors view Zoom’s valuation metrics and balance sheet composition.
Anthropic is rumored to go public later this year, and that rumored IPO is the next confirmed milestone in public discussion of the company’s value and its impact on investors who want anthropic stock exposure. Market participants will watch the timing and pricing of any offering carefully to see how the $380 billion valuation is reflected in public markets.
