OpenAI buys back $7B in employee shares at $852B valuation

OpenAI has bought back $7 billion worth of employee shares in a tender offer, Bloomberg reports, valuing the frontier AI lab at $852 billion—the same valuation as its March funding round, which raised $122 billion. The buyout gives employees a way to monetize their stock compensation without a public listing, a common strategy for private tech giants that want to delay the scrutiny of an IPO. OpenAI has also filed confidentially with the SEC to prepare for a possible offering later this year, but the tender offer suggests that move may not come anytime soon.

CEO Sam Altman acknowledged the company's recent struggles, writing last month that "we did not have our best 12 months ever, which is mostly my fault, but we are about to have our best 12 months to date." The Wall Street Journal reported in April that OpenAI missed internal financial goals, and the company is now paring back bets to focus on enterprise business. Meanwhile, rival Anthropic was reportedly profitable earlier this year, putting pressure on OpenAI to show strong results before hitting public markets. The $7 billion tender, while generous to employees, signals a cautious approach: OpenAI wants to prove its enterprise strategy works and avoid an IPO while financials are still under scrutiny.