Elon Musk has intercepted a key client of Anthropic: the strategy of acquiring Cursor for $60 billion
The artificial intelligence market has become the stage for another high-profile deal. Elon Musk acquired Anysphere, the developer of the popular AI coding tool Cursor, for $60 billion, paying with SpaceX shares. The deal was closed just days before Anthropic's expected IPO, and this coincidence appears far from accidental.
Cursor was one of the largest external monetization channels for Anthropic's Claude model. Every engineer using this platform essentially became a paying customer of Anthropic "under the hood." The flagship feature Composer, powered by Claude Sonnet, became a true hit among programmers. It is associated with the emergence of the term "vibe coding" — an approach where a developer describes a task in plain language, and the AI writes the code.
Financial Anatomy of the Deal
The most notable aspect is the payment mechanism. All $60 billion were paid in SpaceX shares, with not a single dollar in cash changing hands. Musk used SpaceX's recent IPO to "print" fresh capital: the company's shares went public on June 12 at $135, and by Tuesday were trading above $211. SpaceX investors faced dilution of approximately 3.4%.
It is important to understand: Musk bought a company that, according to Ramp data, is losing ground in the race. Cursor's share among corporate clients fell from 41% in June 2025 to 26% in May 2026, trailing behind GitHub Copilot and Amazon Q. Meanwhile, investors like Andreessen Horowitz and Nvidia valued Cursor at $50 billion, considering this valuation aggressive, and Musk paid 20% more.
Strategic Implications for Anthropic
In my deep conviction, this deal is aimed at weakening Anthropic's position before its IPO. Cursor was one of the largest corporate channels through which companies paid for Claude. Losing this client is a serious blow to Anthropic's revenue, which grew sharply in 2025 largely thanks to Cursor.
Musk's own AI division, xAI, is experiencing significant 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." The purchase of Cursor solves two problems at once: it gives SpaceX a compelling AI story ahead of its public market debut and deprives Anthropic of one of its key revenue sources.
My analysis: If Anthropic cannot quickly convince Wall Street that the lost revenue from Cursor can be replaced, one of the most anticipated AI IPOs this year could be under serious threat. Musk played preemptively, and now the ball is in Anthropic's court.