OpenAI Buys Back Shares From Staff at $852B Valuation, Hinting IPO Is Still Far Off

OpenAI has repurchased $7 billion in shares from its own employees through a tender offer, giving staff a way to convert stock compensation into cash without waiting for a public market debut. The transaction, first reported by Bloomberg, pegged OpenAI's valuation at $852 billion — identical to the figure attached to its March fundraising round, which brought in $122 billion from investors. The company did not comment publicly on the deal by the time of reporting.

Tender offers have become increasingly common among high-profile private companies that want to reward employees and retain talent without rushing toward an IPO. As technology startups stay private far longer than earlier generations of firms, internal share buybacks fill the gap between paper wealth and actual liquidity. For OpenAI employees who have spent years accumulating equity in one of the world's most talked-about AI companies, the offer represents a meaningful financial milestone.

OpenAI did file confidentially with the Securities and Exchange Commission in June, signaling preparations for a possible IPO later this year. However, completing a tender offer alongside that filing suggests the company may prefer to delay a public listing rather than proceed under current conditions. CEO Sam Altman acknowledged last month that the past twelve months were not the company's strongest, attributing shortfalls largely to his own leadership decisions, and the Wall Street Journal previously reported that OpenAI missed some internal financial targets in April.

The competitive backdrop adds further pressure. Anthropic, OpenAI's most prominent direct rival in the frontier AI space, was reported to have reached profitability earlier this year — a milestone that would make any Anthropic IPO highly attractive to public market investors. OpenAI appears to be recalibrating its strategy around enterprise business and tighter operational focus before putting itself in front of Wall Street scrutiny.

For now, the $7 billion buyback underscores just how large OpenAI's internal equity pool has grown and how seriously the company is managing workforce expectations. Whether the confidential SEC filing eventually becomes a full public offering will likely depend on whether OpenAI can demonstrate the kind of financial momentum that satisfies institutional investors and outshines a rival that is already claiming profitability.