Deal of the century: Musk bought Cursor for $60 billion in SpaceX shares, striking a blow against Anthropic's IPO
Elon Musk pulled off one of the boldest deals in the AI space, acquiring Anysphere, the developer of the popular code assistant Cursor, for $60 billion. Most notably, the payment was made not with "cash" but with SpaceX shares. The deal was closed just days before Anthropic, a direct competitor to xAI, filed for an initial public offering (IPO).
Cursor is not just another AI tool for programmers. It is a platform that went "viral" in Silicon Valley. Its main "hook" is the flagship Composer feature, powered by Anthropic's Claude model. In essence, Cursor was the largest external monetization channel for Anthropic. Every engineer using Cursor automatically became a paying customer of Anthropic "under the hood." It was precisely because of this connection that the term "vibe coding" emerged — where a developer describes a task in plain language, and the AI writes the code.
And here's where it gets really interesting. According to my data, Anthropic's corporate revenue skyrocketed in 2025 largely thanks to Cursor. Now this powerful growth driver has slipped out of their control. Musk didn't just buy a company — he bought a distribution channel that was directly generating revenue for his main competitor.
Financial engineering bordering on the fantastic
The mechanics of the deal are staggering. SpaceX went public on June 12 at a price of $135 per share. By the following Tuesday, the shares were trading above $211. Musk used a few days of stock market frenzy to "print" $60 billion in fresh capital in the form of shares and immediately spent them on a pre-agreed purchase. SpaceX investors faced dilution of approximately 3.4% — their stake decreased due to the issuance of new shares. The IPO itself essentially became a printing press for this acquisition.
It's important to understand: Cursor is not a flawless asset. According to data from the service Ramp, its 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 like Andreessen Horowitz and Thrive valued Cursor at $50 billion, considering this price aggressive. Musk paid 20% more — $60 billion — for a company that, in many opinions, is losing its leadership.
Why did he do it? The answer, in my view, is obvious. Musk's own AI division, xAI, is 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 entering the public market, the easiest path was to buy a brand that engineers already trust.
Thus, Musk killed two birds with one stone: he acquired a ready-made AI product for SpaceX and simultaneously deprived Anthropic of one of its key revenue sources. The connection is clear: first, SpaceX goes public to obtain "currency" (expensive shares), then Musk spends them on buying Cursor, which was losing its leadership but was still the largest channel for Claude. And all of this happens in the interval between Anthropic filing for its IPO and setting the offering price.
My analysis: This is not just an acquisition, but a strategic strike. Now Anthropic will have to urgently prove to Wall Street that the drop in revenue from Cursor is temporary and that they have something to replace it. If the company cannot convince investors, one of the most anticipated AI IPOs of the year could be seriously threatened. The market is closely watching how Anthropic will navigate out of this situation.