(Corrects to remove extraneous word in Bullet 1)
July 23 (Reuters) – Anthropic is considering requiring rank-and-file employees to sell stock through preset trading plans after it goes public to avoid insider-trading concerns, The Information reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter.
The Claude code creator and rival OpenAI are racing to go public as investor appetite for artificial intelligence fuels soaring valuations and companies compete to set the benchmark for valuing frontier AI firms.
• All Anthropic employees might have to use 10b5-1 trading plans, which require stock sales according to preset schedules and are typically used only by top executives and certain finance and legal staff, according to the Information report.
• Anthropic did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
• The plans would require employees to sell shares according to preset schedules specifying the timing, amount and price of stock sales, the report said.
• Discussions among Anthropic officials and outside advisers are ongoing, and it could not be learned whether the company had made a decision, it added.
• The company is also weighing how much stock existing shareholders can sell on the first day of trading and the length of post-IPO lockup periods, the report said.
• Public companies typically allow most employees to sell shares during trading windows following earnings reports, while preset trading plans could allow sales outside those windows but limit employees’ discretion over the timing and size of trades, the report added.
(Reporting by Anzar Mehraj in Bengaluru; Editing by Joyjeet Das)
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