OpenAI staffers to sell $6 billion in stock to SoftBank, other investors

AI·OpenAIOpenAI staffers to sell $6 billion in stock to SoftBank, other investorsBy Kate ClarkBy BloombergBy Kate ClarkBy Bloomberg Open AI CEO Sam Altman speaks during Snowflake Summit 2025 in San Francisco on June 2.Justin Sullivan—Getty ImagesCurrent and former OpenAI employees plan to sell apximately $6 billion worth of s to an investor group that includes Thrive Capital, SoftBank Group Corp. and Dragoneer Investment Group, in a deal that values the ChatGPT maker at $500 billion, according to people familiar with the matter

The talks are early and the size of the sale could still change, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing private information

The secondary investment is on top of SoftBank’s commitment to lead OpenAI’s $40 billion funding round, which values the company at $300 billion, according to another person familiar with the deal

Representatives for Dragoneer and Thrive didn’t respond to requests for

Spokespeople for OpenAI and SoftBank declined to

All three firms are existing OpenAI backers

The secondary sale, which was first reported by Bloomberg, will give OpenAI employees a chance to get cash-rich amid a high-stakes talent war in the artificial intelligence industry

Companies Meta Platforms Inc. are offering massive salaries to recruit AI talent from OpenAI and other startups

This year, several OpenAI employees have exited for Meta, including Shengjia Zhao, a co-creator of ChatGPT

Allowing employees to sell s is an important tool for startups trying to retain top talent, without requiring the company to go public or be acquired

In some cases, early investors also use these deals to sell down their stakes, though OpenAI investors are not eligible to do so in this round, according to a person familiar with the matter

Current and former employees who spent at least two years at the company are able to participate

With its participation in the sale, as well as its previous commitments, SoftBank is making a pivotal bet on the success of OpenAI

In addition to those deals, the Japanese conglomerate headed by Masayoshi Son recently closed a separate $1 billion purchase of OpenAI employee s at a $300 billion valuation, according to a person familiar with the matter

Negotiations for that deal started before talks around the $500 billion secondary valuation began, they said

The company expects revenue to triple this year to $12.7 billion, up from $3.7 billion in 2024, Bloomberg has reported

And the secondary deal talks come on the heels of the release of its highly-anticipated GPT-5 model

This week, OpenAI chief Sam Altman sat down with a group of reporters and d his vision for the company, including that it wants to spend trillions of dollars on the infrastructure required to run AI services in the “not very distant future.” “You should expect a bunch of economists to wring their hands and say, ‘This is so crazy, it’s so reckless,’ and whatever,” Altman said. “And we’ll just be , ‘You know what? Let us do our thing.’” Introducing the 2025 Fortune Global 500, the definitive ranking of the biggest companies in the world

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