Musk intercepted Cursor for $60 billion: a strategic blow to Anthropic's IPO
Elon Musk has executed one of the most high-profile deals in the AI world, acquiring Anysphere — the developer of the popular AI programming tool Cursor — for $60 billion. The payment was made exclusively with SpaceX shares, giving the deal a unique character and raising numerous questions about its strategic implications.
The key point is that Cursor was tightly integrated with Anthropic's Claude model. Every engineer using Cursor to write code was, in essence, a paying customer of Anthropic, working "under the hood." This tool became one of the largest external monetization channels for Claude, covering a significant portion of Silicon Valley and engineering teams from the Fortune 500 list. It was precisely thanks to Claude that Cursor's Composer feature turned into one of the most beloved AI products among programmers.
The connection between Cursor and Anthropic was not only technological but also financial. Anthropic's corporate revenue surged in 2025, and a significant portion of this growth was driven specifically by Cursor. However, this revenue stream has now come under Musk's control. The deal itself was executed in a compressed timeframe: Musk used SpaceX shares, which rose in value on the stock exchange from $135 to $211 in a matter of days, to "print" $60 billion in new capital and instantly direct it toward the acquisition.
Why This Threatens Anthropic's IPO
Data from the service Ramp shows that 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 such as Andreessen Horowitz and Nvidia valued Cursor at $50 billion, considering this valuation aggressive. Musk paid 20% more for a company that, according to analysts, is losing its leadership in the race.
Many experts link this move to SpaceX's preparation for a public market debut. Musk needed a compelling AI story for SpaceX, and the easiest way was to buy a brand that engineers already trust. The problems at xAI — Musk's own AI division — confirm this logic: 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."
Interpreting this entire chain as a planned attack on Anthropic's IPO is a personal assessment by a number of analysts, not an established fact. However, the timing of the deal, which fell precisely in the gap between Anthropic's IPO filing and the setting of the offering price, looks more than suspicious. If Anthropic cannot quickly convince Wall Street that the lost revenue from Cursor can be replaced, one of the most anticipated AI IPOs of the year could be at risk.
Expert opinion: This deal is a classic example of "strategic cannibalism" in the tech world. Musk didn't just buy an asset; he deprived a key competitor (Anthropic) of its largest sales channel right before its IPO. For crypto investors, this is a signal: in the AI era, asset consolidation happens at lightning speed, and the value of projects can change dramatically in a matter of days. Keep an eye on who controls the infrastructure.