OpenAI has completed a roughly $7 billion buyback of employee shares at an $852 billion valuation, holding its price flat ahead of a possible public listing.
Key Points:
- OpenAI repurchased about $7 billion in stock from current and former employees.
- The deal valued the company at $852 billion, unchanged from its March funding round.
- OpenAI filed confidentially for an IPO in June but has set no listing date.
OpenAI Tender Offer Details
The company used its own balance sheet for the purchase rather than lining up outside buyers, two people familiar with the terms said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the details are private. Current and former staff sold at the same price investors paid in March. That funding round pulled in $122 billion from large technology companies and venture capital firms, and it set the mark the tender has now matched.
OpenAI declined to comment on the deal, which closed months after the March round wrapped and weeks after the company confidentially filed its prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Commission in June. No timeline for a debut has surfaced.
Top private artificial intelligence developers open these windows periodically so insiders can turn paper equity into money they can actually spend, a practice that has become routine at the largest labs. OpenAI has enlisted outside backers such as Thrive Capital and SoftBank for that job before, letting them absorb the stock and reset the price in the process. This time it paid the bill itself.
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Sam Altman IPO Signals
The flat valuation and the use of company cash suggest a market debut is not close at hand. Firms that stay private longer lean on tender offers to pay out stock compensation without the disclosure duties, quarterly scrutiny and investor pressure that follow a listing.
Chief executive Sam Altman wrote last month that the company had not had its best 12 months, blaming himself, and predicted a stronger stretch ahead. Reports in April said OpenAI missed internal revenue and user targets during its sprint toward Wall Street, a stumble that bankers rarely welcome ahead of a sale. The buyback buys time.
Anthropic Rivalry And Past Sales
Rival Anthropic has climbed past OpenAI on valuation this year, and reporting in recent months has put the smaller lab on the edge of its first profitable quarter. It filed confidentially for its own offering in June.
OpenAI has leaned on these sales throughout its climb, and each one has set a marker for the private investors who track the artificial intelligence trade most closely.
It closed a $6.6 billion tender at a $500 billion valuation in October 2025, then more than tripled that number over the following five months. SoftBank bought $1.5 billion of employee stock in a 2024 offer.
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