OpenAI Employees Just Cashed Out $7 Billion In Shares. The ChatGPT Maker Is Now Worth $852 Billion.

OpenAI has completed a roughly $7 billion secondary share sale, allowing current and former employees to cash out some of their holdings as the ChatGPT maker moves closer to a potential initial public offering.

The tender offer valued OpenAI at $852 billion, unchanged from the valuation it secured during its massive funding round earlier this year.

The transaction provides liquidity to employees who have accumulated valuable equity in one of the world's most valuable private companies but have had limited opportunities to sell those holdings.

CNBC confirmed the roughly $7 billion transaction Monday. Bloomberg first reported the final size of the tender offer.

Unlike a traditional funding round, the transaction does not primarily involve OpenAI issuing new shares to raise money for the company. Instead, it allows eligible current and former employees to sell some of their existing stock.

The tender offer has been in development since OpenAI completed a record $122 billion funding round in March, which valued the company at $852 billion.

The latest deal therefore allows employees to convert some of their paper wealth into cash without waiting for OpenAI to become a publicly traded company.

OpenAI bought the shares from current and former employees rather than bringing in outside investors for the transaction, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

The deal is the latest indication of the enormous increase in OpenAI's valuation since ChatGPT was released in late 2022 and triggered a global boom in generative artificial intelligence.

The tender offer comes as OpenAI prepares for what could become one of the largest technology IPOs ever.

The company confidentially filed paperwork for an IPO with the Securities and Exchange Commission in June, although it has not publicly announced when it plans to list its shares.

A confidential filing allows a company to begin the regulatory review process without immediately making its financial statements and other sensitive information available to the public.

OpenAI's potential listing would give public-market investors their first opportunity to directly own shares in the company behind ChatGPT.

It would also provide another route for employees and early investors to sell their holdings, reducing the need for large private secondary transactions.

The latest tender offer follows several similar deals designed to provide liquidity before an IPO.

OpenAI completed a $6.6 billion secondary share sale in October 2025 that valued the company at $500 billion. That transaction allowed current and former employees to sell shares to investors.

A year earlier, OpenAI employees were given the opportunity to sell about $1.5 billion of shares to SoftBank through another tender offer.

The latest transaction represents another sharp increase in the company's implied value. The $852 billion valuation is about 70% higher than the $500 billion valuation attached to the October 2025 share sale.

OpenAI's rising valuation comes as investors continue committing enormous amounts of capital to the company despite the high cost of developing and operating advanced AI systems.

SoftBank has emerged as one of OpenAI's most aggressive financial backers.

The Japanese technology conglomerate completed a second $10 billion tranche of investment in OpenAI in July, part of $30 billion in follow-on investments announced earlier this year, according to a company filing.

SoftBank is scheduled to invest another $10 billion in October, although the closing date could be accelerated if OpenAI goes public before then.

The company borrowed $10 billion to finance its July investment, underscoring the scale of capital flowing into the AI developer.

OpenAI has also committed billions of dollars to computing infrastructure as it races with rivals to develop more capable artificial intelligence systems.