OpenAI Completes $7 Billion Employee Stock Sale at $852B Value

OpenAI has closed a tender offer allowing current and former employees to sell $7 billion worth of company stock, valuing the ChatGPT maker at $852 billion. The transaction gives staff a chance to cash out ahead of a possible public listing, rather than waiting for an IPO to convert paper wealth into cash.

The $852 billion figure lines up with the valuation set in OpenAI's March 2026 funding round, in which the company raised $122 billion. That round remains one of the largest private financings in tech history, and the tender offer effectively lets employees sell shares at the same price outside investors paid.

This is not OpenAI's first move of this kind. In October 2025, the company ran a comparable $6.6 billion buyback in which roughly 75 employees each sold as much as $30 million in stock. Recurring liquidity events like these have become a common tool for late-stage private companies trying to retain talent without rushing to go public.

IPO groundwork continues

OpenAI confidentially filed with the SEC in June 2026 to lay the groundwork for a future public offering, and the tender offer is widely read as part of that preparation. A formal IPO timeline has not been disclosed, but the buyback gives employees an exit option regardless of when, or whether, that listing happens.

The move comes against a backdrop of mixed signals about the company's financial performance. The Wall Street Journal reported in April 2026 that OpenAI had missed internal financial targets, raising questions about the pace of its growth relative to its soaring valuation.

Sam Altman addressed that tension directly in internal remarks, acknowledging that the past year fell short of expectations while striking an optimistic tone about what comes next.

"We did not have our best 12 months ever, but we are about to have our best 12 months to date," Altman wrote.

The size of the buyback itself underscores how much OpenAI's paper value has ballooned even as scrutiny of its underlying financials intensifies. Employees holding equity are being given a path to realize gains now, while the company continues to weigh when to take that valuation to public markets.