Elon Musk intercepted Anthropic's key client for $60 billion: a strategic breakdown of the deal with Cursor
The market for AI development tools experienced one of the most high-profile corporate events of the year. Elon Musk acquired Anysphere, the creator of the popular AI coding assistant Cursor, for $60 billion. The payment was made exclusively with SpaceX shares — not a single dollar in cash. The deal was closed just days before Anthropic's IPO, giving it particular strategic significance.
Why Cursor Was So Important to Anthropic
Cursor had long been powered by Anthropic's Claude model. Essentially, every engineer using Cursor to write code became a paying customer of Anthropic "under the hood." The flagship Composer feature, based on Claude Sonnet, became one of the most beloved AI products among programmers worldwide — from Silicon Valley startups to Fortune 500 engineering teams.
It is this tandem that is credited with coining the term "vibe coding" — an approach where a developer 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.
Anthropic's corporate revenue surged in 2025, and a significant portion of this growth was driven by Cursor. The platform became one of the largest external channels for Claude usage across the entire internet.
The Mechanics of the Deal: How SpaceX Printed $60 Billion
The most notable aspect is the payment method. Musk used SpaceX's IPO as a "printing press." SpaceX shares went public on June 12 at $135 each, and by Tuesday were trading above $211. Capitalizing on the stock market frenzy, Musk issued new shares, diluting existing investors' stakes by approximately 3.4%, and immediately directed them toward the pre-agreed purchase of Cursor.
The deal was formalized through an SEC Form 8-K, and Musk had signed the purchase option back in April. In essence, the SpaceX IPO became the financial instrument for this acquisition.
Interestingly, investors Andreessen Horowitz, Thrive, and Nvidia were preparing to invest in Cursor at a $50 billion valuation, considering it aggressive. Musk paid 20% more — for a company that, by some accounts, was beginning to lose ground in the race. Cursor's share among corporate clients fell from 41% in June 2025 to 26% in May 2026, losing ground to GitHub Copilot and Amazon Q.
Connection to Anthropic's IPO: Coincidence or a Planned Strike?
Analysts link this deal to Anthropic's upcoming IPO. Musk, whose own AI division xAI faced 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"), decided to acquire an established brand that engineers already trust.
The logic is simple: SpaceX needed a compelling AI narrative before going public. The easiest path was to buy Cursor, which, moreover, was the largest corporate channel for Claude. The deal landed precisely in the window between Anthropic filing for its IPO and setting the offering price.
It is important to understand: interpreting these events as a planned attack on Anthropic's IPO is an analytical assessment, not an established fact. Sources confirm the events themselves, but not the intent to specifically harm Anthropic.
My expert take: This deal is a brilliant example of how financial engineering at the intersection of public markets and private equity is reshaping the balance of power in the AI industry. Now, Anthropic must not only prove its worth to Wall Street but also quickly find a replacement for the lost revenue channel. If the company fails to do so, one of the most anticipated IPOs of the year could face serious jeopardy. The market will be closely watching how Anthropic explains the loss of its largest indirect customer.