Storm Duncan Trades Property for Anthropic Shares

A Real Estate Exchange for Tech Stocks

Storm Duncan, a banker specializing in the tech sector, has recently listed his $4.8 million estate located in Marin County, California, for sale. His proposal is unique: he wishes to exchange this property for shares of Anthropic, a company whose valuation in secondary markets has reached an impressive trillion dollars. This situation has made Anthropic shares extremely rare and sought after.

Duncan revealed that he has received several offers since announcing this unusual transaction. The proposals mainly come from employees of Anthropic, interested in the opportunity to acquire a prestigious piece of real estate. The house, which is fully furnished and features an infinity pool with a spectacular view of the San Francisco skyline, is particularly attractive to those working nearby.

"If you go fishing, you need to put a worm on the hook," Duncan, founder and managing partner of the tech investment bank Ignatious, said in an interview with Business Insider. He emphasized that he had no other option but to make this offer to attract the attention of stockholders.

Duncan's decision comes at a time when Anthropic's valuation has skyrocketed, drawing in numerous investors enticed by the company's rapid revenue growth and the excitement surrounding its AI-based coding assistant, Claude Code. Duncan owns other properties, but he chose to put this one on the market because it is ideally located just 20 minutes from Anthropic's offices.

"No one at Anthropic probably wants my house in Miami or Jackson Hole," he added, explaining why he chose to sell this specific property.

By highlighting this house, Duncan hopes to attract employees who hold shares in Anthropic but cannot sell them before an IPO. He has already received several offers, some from Anthropic employees and others from early investors.

"I believe they are serious, but it's a complex transaction," he commented. He described the situation of many employees living in modest apartments in San Francisco, despite high salaries and a potential net worth of $100 million, but who cannot access that wealth due to the illiquidity of their shares.

This type of unconventional transaction is not unprecedented in the tech sector. In 2005, artist David Choe opted for Facebook shares instead of $60,000 in cash for painting murals in the company's first office. This choice proved to be extremely lucrative after Facebook's IPO in 2012, generating an estimated gain of around $200 million.

On social media, some have criticized Duncan's offer as a mere publicity stunt or a sign of the peak of a speculative bubble. Others joked that real estate in the Bay Area may be even more valuable than Anthropic shares.

Duncan insists that his offer is genuine and that he is not seeking attention. He explained that, as a small investor, he could never obtain shares directly from the company, as Anthropic is looking for investors capable of making massive financial contributions, on the order of $100 million.

Duncan's alternative is to buy shares on secondary markets, but he noted that these transactions are often complicated by high fees and opaque ownership structures. He already owns shares of Anthropic, acquired during a funding round in 2024, but he wishes to bolster his investment after witnessing the positive impact of Claude Code on his own company's productivity.

"This is likely to triple our productivity and cut our costs by 50%," he stated, emphasizing his growing interest in the company and his desire to increase his exposure to its shares.