OpenAI let employees cash out up to $30 million each in share sale last year: Report

OpenAI permitted employees to sell up to $30 million worth of shares each in a secondary transaction last year, thereby making hundreds of current and former staff among the earliest financial beneficiaries of the artificial intelligence boom, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal on Sunday.

More than 600 current and former OpenAI employees sold shares worth a combined $6.6 billion in a secondary transaction conducted last October, the Journal report said. The sale valued the artificial intelligence company at approximately $400 billion, it added.

The transaction allowed eligible employees to liquidate portions of their equity holdings. Approximately 75 participants sold the maximum permitted amount of $30 million each.


The San Francisco-headquartered company is planning a public listing in the fourth quarter of 2026. An IPO could value OpenAI at up to $1 trillion. Rival Anthropic is also planning to list as early as October.

The AI major is expected to nearly double its workforce to 8,000 from 4,500 by the end of 2026, the Financial ‌Times ⁠reported in March.

OpenAI was founded as a non-profit in 2015, but later created a for-profit arm. The non-profit, now called the OpenAI Foundation, holds a 26% stake and can acquire more shares if certain milestones are met.

The artificial intelligence giant topped $25 billion in annualised revenue as of the end of February, The Information reported.

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