OpenAI employees to sell $1.5 bln in shares to SoftBank

OpenAI will allow its employees to sell about $1.5 billion worth of shares to Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp. (TYO:9984) in a new tender offer, CNBC reported on Wednesday, as the AI startup courts more high-profile investors.

The deal was struck by SoftBank CEO and founder Masayoshi Son, who was seeking a larger stake in OpenAI, CNBC reported. Son had invested $500 million in OpenAI’s previous funding round.

Current and former OpenAI employees will have until December 24 to participate in the offer, the CNBC report said. The offer is not related to the AI start-up’s plans to transition into a for-profit venture.

The $1.5 billion tender adds to OpenAI’s recent $6.6 billion funding round, which valued the firm at about $157 billion, reports showed earlier this year. OpenAI is still a privately held company and is not privy to disclosing its financials.

The report comes after SoftBank vowed to “aggressively” increase its investments in artificial intelligence, citing high potential in the fast-growing technology. The technology conglomerate also reportedly has plans to start its own AI ventures.

SoftBank also has investments in AI startups Glean, Perplexity and Poolside through its Vision Fund.