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OpenAI has bought back $7 billion worth of shares from employees at the privately held frontier AI lab as part of an effort to provide liquidity to its workforce.<\/p>\n
The deal, reported by Bloomberg, valued OpenAI at $852 billion, the same as its most recent fundraising round<\/a> in March, which added $122 billion to the company\u2019s war chest. <\/p>\n The company also filed confidentially<\/a> with the Securities and Exchange Commission in June to prepare for a potential IPO later this year. However, a tender offer suggests that an IPO may not be forthcoming soon. With many tech companies remaining private longer than previous generations of startups, private tenders have proven a useful way for firms to allow employees to realize the value of their stock compensation without the difficulties that come with a public offering.<\/p>\n OpenAI did not respond to a request for comment by publication time.<\/p>\n Last month, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman wrote<\/a> that \u201cwe 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.\u201d Firms going public typically want to show strong financial results to bring investors on board, and the Wall Street Journal reported<\/a> in April that the company missed internal financial goals.<\/p>\n While OpenAI\u2019s incredible growth and products are likely to generate massive interest in public markets, the potential debut of rival Anthropic \u2014 which was reportedly profitable<\/a> earlier this year \u2014 gives the company a reason to ensure it puts its best face forward. The tender could be another signal that the much-anticipated offering will wait for OpenAI\u2019s new strategy of paring down its bets and focusing on its enterprise business to gain traction.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n