Spark Capital paid $776,999,282 for six blocks of Anthropic preferred stock between 2023 and 2026, according to the related-person tables in Anthropic’s S-1/A of 10 November. At $74, the midpoint of the $70.00 to $78.00 range, those shares would be worth about $9.2 billion, by our arithmetic: about 11.8 times what Spark paid.
Zoom’s own filings put a second named stake on the same scale. Its 10-Q for the quarter to 31 July carries its Anthropic preferred stock at $3,134.5 million. Scaled to the range, that is about $3.9 billion at $74, by our arithmetic. Below, the largest named stakes we could value from filings and court documents, valued the same way.
Business Pill · IPO Float
A short explainer on IPO float, the share of a company sold in its listing. It teaches the general idea and does not discuss Anthropic’s investors.
The key insight: As we read the filings, Spark Capital’s $777.0 million in six rounds would be worth about $9.2 billion at the $74 IPO midpoint, about 11.8 times cost, while Zoom’s stake, carried at $3,134.5 million in July, would be worth about $3.9 billion, 1.26 times that carrying value, by our arithmetic.
The S-1/A lists Spark’s purchases round by round: 6,680,859 Series C-1 shares for $74,999,991 in 2023, then Series D-1, E-1, F-1 and G-1 blocks, and 747,016 Series H-1 shares for $439,999,521 in May to June 2026. The filing prices the rounds at $11.2261 (Series C), $30.0045 (D), $56.0865 (E-1), $140.9676 (F-1), $259.1364 (G-1) and $589.0095 (H-1) a share.
Each preferred share converts into 10 common shares after the September split, the filing says, except Series D-1, D-2 and D-3, at “approximately 10.6:1, 10.4:1, and 10.6:1”. Series C-1, D-1, E-1, F-1, G-1 and H-1 convert into Class A stock; Series B and the other non-voting series into Class N.
Zoom made an additional $46.0 million investment in Anthropic preferred stock in the quarter to 30 April, its first-quarter 10-Q says. That brought the stake to “$ 1,266.9 million”, “based on the valuation implied by Anthropic’s financing round announced on February 12, 2026”. In the July quarter it recorded unrealized gains of $1,612.7 million, “using information including Anthropic’s financing round announced on May 28, 2026”.
Salesforce’s 10-Q for the same quarter says its Anthropic investment “represented approximately $5.1 billion” of an $11.3 billion strategic portfolio, about 45 percent, and that its unrealized gains for the six months included $3.0 billion related to Anthropic. SK Telecom’s 20-F says it made “an equity investment of US$100 million in Anthropic PBC” in August 2023.
The rest of the named list comes from the FTX bankruptcy. The estate’s sale notice of 31 May 2024 shows G Squared VI Holdco buying 4,499,325 Series B shares for $134,999,997 and Damac Capital 1,666,416 for $49,999,979, both at $30.0045 a share. Damac’s line is the subject of our earlier piece.
Named Anthropic investors whose entry is on record, valued at the $74 midpoint of the S-1/A range of 10 November 2026: Spark Capital’s six purchases listed in the S-1/A ($777.0 million paid), Salesforce’s approximately $5.1 billion carrying value (if it reflects the $589.0095 Series H price, an assumption), Zoom’s $3,134.5 million carrying value (share count inferred from the Series H price), and two buyers in the FTX estate’s May 2024 sale. Values are our arithmetic at 10 common shares per preferred share (Series D-1 about 10.6), assuming no later trades, gross of taxes and lock-ups.Value at the $74 midpoint of Anthropic’s S-1/A range per $1 paid in each round, from the round prices in the S-1/A: Series B and C at $11.2261, Series D at $30.0045, E-1 at $56.0865, F-1 at $140.9676, G-1 at $259.1364 and H-1 at $589.0095 a share, and the concurrent private placement at the IPO price. Our arithmetic at 10 common shares per preferred share (Series D-1 about 10.6). Gross; the IPO is not priced.
Our Numbers
Spark’s 12,246,749 preferred shares convert into about 124.0 million Class A shares, by our arithmetic, using the filing’s ratios. That is $8.68 billion at $70, $9.17 billion at $74 and $9.67 billion at $78: 11.2 to 12.4 times the $777.0 million it paid.
The first cheque does most of the work. Spark’s $75.0 million Series C-1 purchase in 2023 comes to $4.94 billion at $74, about 54% of the total value for under 10% of the cost, by our arithmetic. Its $440.0 million Series H-1 purchase, about 57% of the cost, comes to $553 million: about 6% of the value.
Zoom’s two filings reconcile to the round prices, by our arithmetic. The Series H price is 2.2730 times the Series G price. The $1,266.9 million carrying value times 2.2730, plus the $254.9 million Zoom added in the July quarter, gives $3,134.5 million, the figure Zoom reports. As we read it, Zoom carries the stake at the latest round’s price per share.
On that reading Zoom holds about 5.32 million preferred shares, or about 53.2 million common shares at 10 to one, by our arithmetic. They come to $3.73 billion at $70, $3.94 billion at $74 and $4.15 billion at $78, or 1.19 to 1.32 times the July carrying value. Anthropic is about 83% of Zoom’s privately held securities.
If Salesforce’s carrying value also reflects the Series H price, an assumption its 10-Q does not confirm, its stake would come to about $6.4 billion at $74, by our arithmetic. G Squared’s FTX shares come to $3.33 billion and Damac Capital’s to $1.23 billion, each 24.7 times cost. SK Telecom’s 20-F gives a cost but no share count, so we do not value it.
Ranked by value at $74, the named stakes run Spark at about $9.2 billion, Salesforce at about $6.4 billion if marked at the Series H price, Zoom at about $3.9 billion, G Squared at $3.33 billion and Damac Capital at $1.23 billion. The FTX estate’s whole former block would be about $33.0 billion, as in our FTX piece; Google’s stake is in our Google piece and Amazon’s in our Amazon piece.
Per dollar, the order is set by entry price. At $74, by our arithmetic, $1 in Series C or B is worth about $65.92, $1 in Series D about $26, Series E-1 $13.19, Series F-1 $5.25, Series G-1 $2.86 and Series H-1 $1.26. The seven companies in the concurrent private placement, including Nvidia and Microsoft, pay the IPO price itself.
The Structural Read
As we read the S-1/A, a dollar in the 2023 Series C buys about 52 times as much IPO value as a dollar in the 2026 Series H ($65.92 against $1.26 at $74, by our arithmetic), which is why Spark’s first $75.0 million carries more of its value than its last $440.0 million.
As we read Zoom’s two 10-Qs, its book value already moved with Anthropic’s private rounds, so the IPO range adds a smaller step for Zoom: 1.19 to 1.32 times its July carrying value, by our arithmetic, against 11.2 to 12.4 times cost for Spark.
Zoom Communications, 10-Q for the quarter to 31 July 2026
“Changes in the valuation of these investments due to future market conditions could result in material gains or losses in our consolidated financialstatements”
Three Implications
FOR SPARK Each $1 move in the IPO price changes the value of its roughly 124.0 million converted shares by about $124 million, by our arithmetic.
FOR ZOOM Each $1 move changes the value of its roughly 53.2 million implied common shares by about $53 million, by our arithmetic, on our reading of its carrying value.
FOR THE CAP TABLE The S-1/A says Series C-1, D-1, E-1, F-1, G-1 and H-1 preferred stock converts into Class A common stock, and Series B and the other non-voting series into Class N.
The framework records: “the capex race is no longer a corporate spending cycle. It is a sovereign-scale financing problem dressed in tech-company clothing”.
As we read it, the S-1/A shows that scale in Anthropic’s own rounds: the 2026 Series H raised $65.2 billion at $589.0095 a share, against $445,337,400 for the whole 2023 Series C. The framework predates the filings and does not discuss Spark, Zoom or Salesforce.
What Is Not Established
The IPO is not priced; the S-1/A gives an estimated range of $70.00 to $78.00, and every value here moves with it. All values assume no sales or other trades after the purchases shown and are gross of taxes and lock-ups. Spark’s figures cover only the purchases the S-1/A lists as related-person transactions.
Zoom’s share count is our inference from its carrying values, not a figure Zoom reports, and Salesforce’s value rests on the assumption stated above. Neither company’s 10-Q passages we read give the original cost of its stake. The wider deal picture is in Anthropic’s IPO map.
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Anthropic’s S-1/A and its holders’ own filings put prices on the named stakes: Spark’s $777.0 million would be worth about $9.2 billion at the $74 midpoint, and Zoom’s stake, carried at $3,134.5 million in July, about $3.9 billion, by our arithmetic. Per dollar paid, by our arithmetic, a 2023 Series C share is worth about $66 at $74 and a 2026 Series H share $1.26.
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A note on sourcing. We read Anthropic’s S-1/A filed with the SEC on 10 November 2026, Zoom’s 10-Qs for the quarters to 30 April and 31 July 2026, Salesforce’s 10-Q for the quarter to 31 July 2026 and SK Telecom’s 20-F of 29 April 2026, all on EDGAR, and the FTX Debtors’ sale notice of 31 May 2024 on the Kroll case docket. Share conversions, values, multiples, percentages, Zoom’s implied share count and the ranking are our arithmetic. None of the companies was contacted for this piece.
Gennaro Cuofano is a CRO and tech executive who has worked in AI since late 2015, starting with bringing NLP, natural-language generation, voice and chatbot products to the marketing industry. His background is in law and finance: he holds a Master's degree in Law and an International MBA with an emphasis on corporate finance (LUISS Business School and the University of San Diego, 2012), and worked as a financial analyst at a real-estate investment firm in San Diego and as an assistant controller. His work focuses on business model strategy, business engineering and, more broadly, structural analysis: how companies make money, read from their own filings. He created FourWeekMBA and leads research there and at The Business Engineer, his newsletter on AI and business strategy, with over 95,000 subscribers and more than 1,000 published analyses. His writing has also appeared on Entrepreneur (for example, How to Digitize a Family Business in Europe) and HackerNoon. Find him on LinkedIn and Substack. See how we source.
