OpenAI used its own cash, not outside investors, to buy back roughly $7 billion in employee shares, according to Bloomberg.

The deal holds the company’s valuation flat at $852 billion ahead of a possible stock market listing.

OpenAI Breaks From Its Own Pattern

A tender offer lets a company or investor buy back existing shares from employees. OpenAI has run investor-funded versions before, including a 2023 tender offer that tripled its valuation to $86 billion.

Its largest prior deal came in October 2025. Thrive Capital, SoftBank, and others bought $6.6 billion in employee shares, valuing OpenAI near $500 billion.

By March 2026, a $122 billion funding round pushed that valuation to $852 billion. OpenAI confirmed the same $852 billion figure now, months after it also filed a confidential IPO filing with regulators.

Why OpenAI Skipped the Investors

Funding the buyback itself keeps OpenAI’s cap table free of new outside holders right before a potential listing. It also signals the company has enough cash on hand after its March raise. It does not need fresh investor capital for this deal.

The picture looks different at Anthropic. Its April tender was tied to a $30 billion funding round. It reportedly came in below target because employees held onto shares while investor demand went partly unfilled.

At OpenAI’s own earlier tenders, the opposite happened, with employees selling so heavily that billions in investor demand went unmet.

That dynamic sits alongside an intensifying price war with Anthropic. OpenAI has also been cutting prices for customers even as infrastructure costs climb. Both pressures will matter to investors pricing either company’s eventual public debut.

CEO Sam Altman told staff in June he expects OpenAI to go public within the next year. Other reports, though, have pointed to a possible delay into 2027.

Funding this tender alone lets OpenAI keep that timeline flexible rather than answering to a new set of investors.

Source: BeInCrypto