Deal of the Century: How Musk intercepted Cursor from Anthropic with $60 billion in SpaceX stock right before the IPO
The artificial intelligence market is undergoing a tectonic shift. Elon Musk has pulled off a deal that radically changes the balance of power ahead of one of the most anticipated IPOs of the year — Anthropic's stock market debut. For $60 billion, paid entirely in SpaceX shares, he acquired Anysphere, the creator of the hugely popular AI coding tool Cursor. The agreement was closed just days before Anthropic filed its IPO application.
The essence of the maneuver is simple and cynical: Cursor was not just a successful startup. It was the largest external monetization channel for Anthropic's models, primarily Claude. Every engineer who used Cursor to write code automatically became a paying customer of Anthropic "under the hood." The tool, especially its flagship Composer feature based on Claude Sonnet, became the de facto standard for "vibe coding" — an approach where a programmer describes a task in words, and the AI writes the code. This term, by the way, originated precisely from experiments with Cursor.
The Financial Anatomy of the Blow
The deal's details are staggering. Not a single dollar in cash changed hands. All $60 billion were paid in SpaceX shares, which Musk essentially "printed" in just a few days of stock market frenzy. SpaceX went public on June 12 at $135 per share, and by Tuesday, the stock was trading above $211. Using an 8-K form and an option signed back in April, Musk converted the market euphoria into currency for the acquisition. SpaceX investors, meanwhile, faced dilution of approximately 3.4% — their stake decreased due to the issuance of new shares.
But the most interesting part is the timing. According to data from the Ramp service, Cursor's share among corporate clients of AI coding tools declined from 41% in June 2025 to 26% in May 2026, losing ground to GitHub Copilot and Amazon Q. Investors like Andreessen Horowitz and Thrive valued Cursor at $50 billion, considering this price aggressive. Musk paid 20% more, acquiring a company that was, in essence, losing its leadership.
Why? The answer is obvious: Musk's own AI division, xAI, is experiencing serious difficulties. By the end of March 2026, all 11 co-founders had left the company, and Musk himself admitted that xAI was "built incorrectly from the start." Buying a brand trusted by engineers worldwide turned out to be easier and faster than fixing his own mistakes.
A Blow to Anthropic
Now Anthropic finds itself in a critical situation. Its largest corporate sales channel for Claude has been cut off. The company's revenue surged in 2025 largely thanks to every engineer paying through Cursor. Now Wall Street will be asking questions: how will the company replace this lost revenue stream? If no convincing answer is forthcoming, one of the most high-profile IPOs in the AI sector could be at risk of falling through.
Expert Opinion: This is not just a corporate deal, but a classic example of a "strategic blockade" before an IPO. Musk didn't just buy an asset — he deprived a competitor of a key distribution channel at its most vulnerable moment. For Anthropic, it is now critically important to demonstrate to the market its own ability to generate corporate revenue directly, without intermediaries. Otherwise, the $60+ billion valuation being predicted for it may prove unattainable. The AI market is entering a phase of intense consolidation, and this move by Musk is just the first warning shot.