The largest cloud companies have been buying into the AI labs that rent their computing power, and those stakes now move their reported profits by more than some of their businesses do.
Amazon owns part of Anthropic, the company that makes the Claude AI models. It holds that part in two forms: loans that can turn into shares, and preferred shares that carry no vote. Each time Anthropic raises money at a higher price, Amazon marks the stake up. That can move the profit Amazon reports by tens of billions of dollars in a single quarter.
The stake reaches an Amazon shareholder in three ways. Gains on it show up in Amazon's earnings. Anthropic's spending on computing shows up in AWS, Amazon's cloud business. A public listing of Anthropic would change how the holding is valued. All three also reach anyone who holds tokenized Amazon through the AMZNX/USDT Spot pair, because the token follows Amazon's share price.
What is Amazon's Anthropic stake?
Amazon's Anthropic stake is $18.0 billion put in since 2023: $8.0 billion of convertible notes, and $10.0 billion of preferred shares bought in the second quarter of 2026 (source: Amazon Q2 2026 Form 10-Q). On June 30, 2026, Amazon valued the holding at about $190.4 billion (source: Amazon Q2 2026 Form 10-Q).
A convertible note is a loan that can be swapped for shares later, usually when the company raises money or lists. Preferred shares rank ahead of ordinary shares if a company is sold or closed down. Amazon's preferred shares are nonvoting, so the stake does not let Amazon vote on how Anthropic is run. The notes are also subject to an ownership cap, a limit on how much of Anthropic Amazon can own, which Amazon can choose to waive (source: Amazon Q2 2026 Form 10-Q).
Amazon's holding was carried at $13.8 billion at the end of 2024 (source: Amazon 2025 Form 10-K) and at $190.4 billion on June 30, 2026, most of the rise coming in the first half of 2026 (source: Amazon Q2 2026 Form 10-Q).
Dec 31, 2024 | Dec 31, 2025 | Jun 30, 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|
Amount invested to date | $5.3 billion | $8.0 billion | $18.0 billion |
Convertible notes, estimated fair value | $13.8 billion | $45.8 billion | $97.9 billion |
Preferred shares, carrying value | none yet | $14.8 billion | $92.5 billion |
Total carried on the balance sheet | $13.8 billion | $60.6 billion | $190.4 billion |
Every value here is Amazon's own estimate, because Anthropic's shares do not trade on an exchange. Amazon values them from the prices of Anthropic's funding rounds and from its own models. Accountants call these Level 3 measurements, the kind that rest most on a company's own judgment.
How the Anthropic stake moved Amazon's earnings
In the second quarter of 2026, Amazon's net income was $62.6 billion, while its operating income was $27.5 billion (source: Amazon Q2 2026 Form 10-Q). The difference came from other income of $53.4 billion, part of which went to tax. Of the $53.4 billion, $50.5 billion was a markup of the Anthropic preferred shares (source: Amazon Q2 2026 Form 10-Q).
Operating income is the profit from running Amazon's businesses, before interest and tax.
Second quarter of 2026 | Amount |
|---|---|
Operating income | $27.5 billion |
Other income | $53.4 billion |
of which, the Anthropic preferred-share markup | $50.5 billion |
Income before tax | $80.9 billion |
Tax | $18.2 billion |
Net income | $62.6 billion |
Over the first half of 2026, the markups came to $62.8 billion (source: Amazon Q2 2026 Form 10-Q). Amazon booked a further $4.5 billion when part of the notes turned into preferred shares (source: Amazon Q2 2026 Form 10-Q). It also recorded $15.9 billion of tax in the half that it links mainly to the Anthropic markups. A year earlier, in the second quarter of 2025, other income was only $1.1 billion and tax $2.7 billion (source: Amazon Q2 2026 Form 10-Q). Most of the rise in profit between the two quarters came from outside Amazon's businesses: about 86% of the $60.0 billion rise in pre-tax income.
Say you look only at the headline number: Amazon's diluted earnings per share for the quarter were $5.75 (source: Amazon Q2 2026 Form 10-Q). Other income made up about two-thirds of the $80.9 billion Amazon earned before tax. So most of the headline figure came from marking up the stake, not from selling goods, cloud services and advertising. Earnings-based measures such as the price-to-earnings ratio carry the same gain inside them.
How Amazon built the stake, 2023 to 2026
Amazon bought Anthropic convertible notes in several steps from the third quarter of 2023 to the end of 2025, for $8.0 billion in all. In the second quarter of 2026 it added $10.0 billion of preferred shares. It bought $5.0 billion of Series G preferred shares and $5.0 billion of Series H preferred shares (source: Amazon Q2 2026 Form 10-Q).
Each conversion of notes into preferred shares moved part of the notes' gain into profit (source: Amazon 2025 Form 10-K). The first-quarter 2026 markup of about $12.3 billion is the half-year's $62.8 billion less the second quarter's $50.5 billion (source: Amazon Q2 2026 Form 10-Q).
When | What happened | Amount |
|---|---|---|
Q3 2023 to Q4 2024 | Convertible notes bought | $5.3 billion |
Q1 2025 | Part of the notes turned into preferred shares; gain moved into profit | $3.3 billion gain |
Q2 2025 | New convertible note | $1.3 billion |
Q3 2025 | More notes turned into preferred shares; preferred shares marked up | $2.3 billion and $7.2 billion gains |
Q4 2025 | New convertible note | $1.4 billion |
Q1 2026 | More notes turned into preferred shares; preferred shares marked up | $4.5 billion and about $12.3 billion gains |
Q2 2026 | Series G preferred shares bought | $5.0 billion |
Q2 2026 | Series H preferred shares bought | $5.0 billion |
Q2 2026 | Preferred shares marked up | $50.5 billion gain |
Anthropic's own announcements give the prices behind those rounds. Its Series G, announced on February 12, 2026, valued the company at $380 billion after the new money (source: Anthropic Series G announcement). CNBC reported that Amazon's April 2026 investment was made at that value (source: CNBC, April 20, 2026). The Series H, announced on May 28, 2026, valued Anthropic at $965 billion and included $5 billion from Amazon (source: Anthropic Series H announcement). A round at a much higher price is the kind of new price that lets Amazon mark up the shares it already holds.
Which Anthropic gains reach Amazon's profit
The two parts of the stake are counted in different ways, which decides when a gain reaches Amazon's profit. Markups on the preferred shares go through other income, and so do gains moved out of the notes when they convert. The gain on notes Amazon still holds stays in a reserve inside shareholders' equity (source: Amazon Q2 2026 Form 10-Q).
The preferred shares keep their recorded value until a new price appears, such as a funding round (source: Amazon Q2 2026 Form 10-Q). At June 30, 2026, the gain held in the reserve was $92.0 billion, larger than all the markups booked through profit in the first half (source: Amazon Q2 2026 Form 10-Q).
First half of 2026 | Where the gain went | Amount |
|---|---|---|
Preferred shares marked up | profit, through other income | $62.8 billion |
Notes turned into preferred shares | profit, moved out of the reserve | $4.5 billion |
Gain on the notes still held | the equity reserve | $39.5 billion at the start of the year, $92.0 billion at June 30 |
The reserve raises the value of Amazon's equity on the balance sheet. It never passes through the income statement while the notes stay notes.
Say Anthropic raises money at a higher price again. The preferred shares would be marked up, and the gain would land in Amazon's other income that quarter. The notes would also be worth more, but that gain would add to the reserve instead. So when Amazon's other income jumps, the quarterly report usually points to one of two causes: a conversion of notes, or a new Anthropic round.
The AWS deal attached to the stake
The stake also comes with a large contract for computing power. In the second quarter of 2026, AWS and Anthropic grew their existing deal by more than $100.0 billion over ten years. The contract includes promises tied to how AWS chips perform (source: Amazon Q2 2026 Form 10-Q).
Anthropic says it will secure up to 5 gigawatts of computing capacity. The deal covers AWS's Graviton processors and its Trainium2 to Trainium4 AI chips (source: Anthropic, April 20, 2026). Anthropic also says AWS stays its primary training and cloud provider for its most important work. For AWS, Amazon's cloud business, it is a commitment to future spending. Amazon says revenue from such contracts arrives as the customer uses the services, and can run beyond the contract's original term (source: Amazon Q2 2026 Form 10-Q).
In its own announcement the same day, Amazon set out its investment: an immediate $5 billion and up to $20 billion more "tied to certain commercial milestones" (source: Amazon, April 20, 2026). In the quarterly report's terms, Amazon agreed to a financing facility of up to $20.0 billion for Anthropic. The money opens up only as AWS delivers agreed amounts of computing capacity. Anthropic draws on it by issuing new convertible notes, or common shares after a listing (source: Amazon Q2 2026 Form 10-Q).
The facility started at $20.0 billion, with nothing available to draw. Amazon's Series H purchase counted against it, which left $15.0 billion (source: Amazon Q2 2026 Form 10-Q). Amazon's OpenAI stake also came with an AWS contract. There, Amazon agreed to buy a further $35 billion of OpenAI's preferred shares under a separate letter agreement (source: Amazon Q2 2026 Form 10-Q).
What an Anthropic listing would change for Amazon
If Anthropic lists its shares, Amazon's preferred shares and its notes up to the ownership cap would turn into nonvoting common shares. Any notes above the cap would stay convertible (source: Amazon Q2 2026 Form 10-Q). Anthropic's shares would then have a daily market price, so that price, not only its funding rounds, could move Amazon's other income.
Amazon records its stakes in listed companies at fair value, an estimate of what a holding would sell for. It notes that this value moves with market prices (source: Amazon Q2 2026 Form 10-Q). Today the preferred shares are marked up mainly when Anthropic sells new shares in a funding round. Any notes left over would keep their gains in the reserve.
Say the holding were worth the $190.4 billion Amazon carried it at on June 30, 2026, and Anthropic's shares then fell 10% in a quarter. That would take about $19 billion off Amazon's other income that quarter, and a 10% rise would add about the same. Both are large next to the $27.5 billion of operating income Amazon earned in the second quarter of 2026. The figure is only an illustration. It assumes the whole holding had become shares, and the value after a listing would depend on the share price on the day.
After an Anthropic IPO, Amazon expects a customary lock-up period, a stretch in which it could not sell the new shares (source: Amazon Q2 2026 Form 10-Q). Before it lists, a US company publishes a filing called an S-1. Anthropic has not yet made its S-1 public (source: Yahoo Finance, September 26, 2026).
Every one of these revaluations reaches AMZNX/USDT only through Amazon's share price, and the spot fee on each trade depends on your account tier in the BloFin fee schedule.
What the Anthropic stake means for an AMZNX holder
AMZNX follows the Amazon share price, so the Anthropic stake reaches a token holder only through Amazon's own share. A higher Anthropic round can lift Amazon's reported profit without any change in its stores, cloud or advertising. A lower one can do the reverse.
Say you hold AMZNX through an Amazon results day. The headline earnings per share may include tens of billions of dollars of Anthropic markups. Operating income shows how the businesses themselves did. A quarter with no Anthropic round can even show lower net income than a year before. That can happen while the businesses grew, because the earlier quarter held a markup. Read the two side by side before you judge the day's move. The forces that move Amazon's stock price start with AWS.
BloFin also lists the ANTHROPICUSDT Perpetual, a USDT-settled contract on Anthropic with leverage from 1x to 20x and funding settled every eight hours from 00:00 HKT (source: BloFin ANTHROPICUSDT contract details). Like BloFin's stock perpetuals, it gives no ownership of the underlying shares and no voting or dividend rights.
For Amazon itself, holding AMZNX and trading the AMZNUSDT Perpetual are the two routes. Which of the two to use depends on how you want to hold the exposure.
Looking to gain exposure to Amazon? To get started, you'll need to first create a BloFin account, fund your account with cryptocurrency, and navigate to the AMZNX/USDT Spot trading page or AMZNUSDT Perpetual page.
Frequently asked questions
How much of Anthropic does Amazon own?
Amazon does not state a percentage in its reports. They give the amount it has invested, $18.0 billion by June 30, 2026, and the value of the holding, about $190.4 billion. They do not give the share of Anthropic that represents (source: Amazon Q2 2026 Form 10-Q). They say the notes are subject to an ownership cap, but not what the cap is. Any percentage quoted elsewhere is an estimate by someone other than Amazon.
Is Amazon going to buy Anthropic?
Amazon's filings describe a holding with limits on its control. Its preferred shares carry no vote, and the notes are subject to an ownership cap. Amazon also says it does not add Anthropic into its own accounts, because it is not the primary beneficiary (source: Amazon Q2 2026 Form 10-Q). Anthropic's April 2026 announcement describes a partnership and further investment. It makes no mention of a sale of the company (source: Anthropic, April 20, 2026).
Is Amazon the largest investor in Anthropic?
Anthropic's funding announcements do not rank its shareholders. Amazon's filings give no percentage for its stake, so neither names a single largest investor. Amazon had put $18.0 billion into Anthropic by June 30, 2026 (source: Amazon Q2 2026 Form 10-Q). Anthropic's Series G included part of previously announced investments from Microsoft and NVIDIA (source: Anthropic Series G announcement). Its Series H in May 2026 was led by Altimeter Capital, Dragoneer, Greenoaks and Sequoia Capital. That round included $5 billion from Amazon (source: Anthropic Series H announcement).
What happens to Amazon if Anthropic's valuation falls?
The accounting works in reverse when prices fall. A funding round below the recorded value, another lower price or an impairment would cut the preferred shares' value. The loss would then go through Amazon's other income. A lower fair value for the notes would shrink the $92.0 billion gain held in the equity reserve (source: Amazon Q2 2026 Form 10-Q). Operating income, which comes from Amazon's own businesses, would not change.
How much has Amazon made on its Anthropic investment?
On paper, about $172 billion: the holding was carried at $190.4 billion on June 30, 2026, against $18.0 billion invested (source: Amazon Q2 2026 Form 10-Q). About $92.0 billion of that sits in the equity reserve as a gain on the notes. None of it is cash yet, and Amazon would turn it into cash only by selling shares or notes. The values are also its own estimates, not market prices.
Researched and written by the BloFin Academy editorial team with AI-assisted drafting. All facts independently verified. Primary sources include Amazon's 2025 annual report and second-quarter 2026 quarterly report filed with the SEC, Anthropic's announcements of April 20, 2026 and of its Series G and Series H rounds, Amazon's announcement of April 20, 2026, CNBC, and BloFin's ANTHROPICUSDT contract details, current as of September 28, 2026.
Nothing in this article constitutes financial advice, and nothing in it is a recommendation to buy, sell or hold Amazon in any form. The Anthropic holding is carried at Amazon's own estimates, not at market prices. A lower Anthropic funding round or an impairment would reduce Amazon's reported profit. After a listing, Anthropic's share price could move Amazon's earnings every quarter in either direction. AMZNX follows Amazon's share price, so a holder carries those swings through the share. Past performance does not indicate future results. Do your own research and consider your risk tolerance before you trade on BloFin.