Anthropic's amended S-1 filing reveals the company recorded more than $1.7 billion in personnel expenses between July and September. With a workforce of 5,300 people, the costs averaged approximately $107,300 per employee per month, or $322,000 per person over the three-month span.
Stock-based compensation accounted for $1.1 billion of those expenses, representing the value of company shares earned by employees. Other costs included standard cash salaries, bonuses, benefits, and employer payroll taxes. The company records the value of these shares as an expense despite employees not receiving the equivalent amount in cash.
Personnel costs now represent a smaller portion of revenue than in previous years. In 2023, the Claude maker spent more than twice as much on personnel as it earned from customers. During the first nine months of 2026, personnel costs reached $4.8 billion, which was about 15% of the $33.2 billion in revenue reported for that same period.
An IPO could significantly impact the company's financial reporting due to conditions attached to restricted stock units. These units require employees to work for a specific duration and necessitate an event such as an IPO. Anthropic stated that if it had completed its IPO on September 30, 2026, it would have recorded an $8.2 billion stock-based compensation charge that day.
