Musk has launched a preemptive strike against Anthropic's IPO: details of the $60 billion deal to acquire Cursor
The artificial intelligence market is undergoing a tectonic shift. Elon Musk, using shares of the recently listed SpaceX, acquired Anysphere — the developer of the popular AI coding tool Cursor. The deal was valued at $60 billion, and crucially, it was closed just days before the anticipated Initial Public Offering (IPO) of Anthropic, the developer of the Claude model. This is not merely a corporate acquisition, but a strategic move that could significantly alter the balance of power.
Why Cursor Was Critically Important for Anthropic
Cursor became the flagship product that popularized the concept of "vibe coding" — an approach where a developer describes a task in plain language, and the AI writes the code. This tool, powered by the Claude model, was deeply integrated into the workflows of a significant portion of Silicon Valley and numerous engineering teams from the Fortune 500. In essence, every engineer using Cursor was a paying customer of Anthropic "under the hood." Anthropic's revenue surged in 2025, and Cursor was one of its largest external revenue generation channels.
The most interesting aspect is the payment mechanism. Musk did not spend a single dollar in cash. All $60 billion was paid for with SpaceX shares. The deal was structured through a regulatory 8-K form, and Musk himself exercised an option signed back in April. SpaceX shares went public on June 12 at $135 per share, and by the end of the next trading session, they were trading above $211. Musk used a few days of stock market frenzy to "print" $60 billion in new capital and immediately spend it on a pre-agreed purchase. SpaceX investors, meanwhile, faced dilution of approximately 3.4%.
Impact on Anthropic's IPO: Analysis and Consequences
The connection of this deal to Anthropic's IPO is obvious. According to data from the Ramp service, 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, including Andreessen Horowitz, Thrive, and Nvidia, were ready to invest in Cursor at a $50 billion valuation, considering it aggressive. Musk, however, paid 20% more — for a company that, in many opinions, was losing its lead in the race.
My analysis shows that Musk pursued this deal because his own AI division, xAI, was experiencing 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." For SpaceX to have a compelling AI narrative before going public, the easiest path was to buy a brand that engineers already trust.
A clear chain emerges: first, SpaceX goes public to obtain "currency" — expensive shares. Then, Musk directs them to buy Cursor, which was losing its leadership, and pays a premium. And all of this happens precisely in the interval between Anthropic filing its IPO application and setting the offering price. Thus, Anthropic loses its largest corporate sales channel, directly impacting its financial performance and valuation ahead of its stock market debut.
Expert Commentary from Cryptalist: This deal is a brilliant, albeit cynical, example of "corporate judo." Musk didn't just buy an asset; he neutralized a key revenue generation channel for his direct competitor just days before its most important financial event. The success of Anthropic's IPO now directly depends on whether the company can convince Wall Street that the loss of Cursor can be quickly compensated. If not, one of the most anticipated listings of the year could be at risk of failure, and the AI market will receive a signal that the battle for leadership is entering a phase of direct confrontation.