Musk intercepted Anthropic's key client ahead of the IPO: what really happened
Elon Musk made a strategic move by acquiring Anysphere, the developer of the popular AI code-writing tool Cursor, for $60 billion. The payment was made not in cash, but in SpaceX shares. The deal was closed just days before Anthropic's stock market listing, making it particularly significant in the context of the upcoming IPO.
Cursor has long been one of the largest monetization channels for Anthropic's Claude model. Every engineer using Cursor to write code was effectively a paying customer of Anthropic "under the hood." The tool is used by a significant portion of Silicon Valley and many engineering teams from the Fortune 500. The flagship feature, Composer, powered by Claude Sonnet, became one of the most beloved AI products among programmers.
It is with Cursor and Claude that the term "vibe coding" emerged — an approach where a programmer describes a task in plain language, and the AI writes the code. The term was introduced in early 2025 by a researcher experimenting with Composer based on Claude Sonnet.
Financial Blow to Anthropic
Anthropic's corporate revenue surged in 2025, partly thanks to Cursor. Every Cursor user was a paying Anthropic client, and this channel became one of the largest external revenue sources for the company. Now, this stream is under threat.
The most curious aspect is how the payment was made. All $60 billion were paid in SpaceX shares. Musk used several days of stock market frenzy following SpaceX's IPO to "print" fresh capital in the form of shares and immediately spend them on a pre-agreed purchase. SpaceX investors faced dilution of approximately 3.4% — their stake decreased due to the issuance of new shares.
Connection to Anthropic's IPO
According to data from the service Ramp, Cursor's share among corporate clients was declining: from 41% in June 2025 to 26% in May 2026, losing ground to GitHub Copilot and Amazon Q. Investors Andreessen Horowitz, Thrive, and Nvidia were preparing to invest in Cursor at a valuation of $50 billion, considering it already aggressive, while Musk paid 20% more — for a company losing ground in the race.
Many analysts believe Musk went through with the deal because his own AI division, xAI, was facing serious difficulties. By the end of March 2026, all 11 of its co-founders had left the company, and Musk himself admitted that xAI was "built incorrectly from the start." To give SpaceX a compelling AI story before going public, the easiest path was to buy a brand that engineers already trust.
Thus, a chain emerges: first, SpaceX went public to obtain "currency" — expensive shares. Then, Musk used them to buy Cursor, which was losing its leadership position, and paid a premium. Moreover, Cursor was the largest corporate channel through which companies paid for Claude. And the deal came exactly in the gap between Anthropic filing for its IPO and setting the offering price.
My expert assessment: This is not just a purchase of a tool — it is a classic example of vertical integration in the AI sector, where control over distribution becomes more important than developing the models themselves. For Anthropic, losing Cursor is a serious blow to revenue precisely at a time when the company needs to show Wall Street sustainable growth. If Anthropic cannot quickly convince investors that the lost revenue can be replaced, one of the most anticipated AI IPOs this year could be at risk.