Employees of OpenAI will now be able to sell approximately $1.5 billion worth of shares as part of a new tender offer to SoftBank, a Japanese tech juggernaut eager to take part in the artificial intelligence (AI) gold rush.
This move by the AI company would enable Softbank to gain a solid foothold among AI startups, while also allowing its employees to cash out their shares, said two sources familiar with the matter.
Before December 24, OpenAI employees will have to choose whether they will take the opportunity from a tender offer or not, one of the sources said.
The deal was pushed by Softbank founder and CEO Masayoshi Son, who insisted on taking a larger stake in OpenAI after investing $500 million into the startup’s last funding round, said the source.
However, OpenAI denied that the tender offer is part of the company’s plan to restructure its business into for-profit, the source claimed.
Son’s push for the offering highlights his keen interest in the AI scene, and by supporting the biggest private player in the market, SoftBank holds a major advantage. In a recent conference, Son stated that he is preparing for a tens of billion-dollar move in AI. Previously, Son has invested in Apple, Qualcomm and Alibaba.
Although, even without SoftBank, OpenAI will have no trouble funding its endeavor. Recently, the AI developer valuation rose to $157 billion in two years since the launch of ChatGPT. In October, OpenAI closed its funding at $6.6 billion, spearheaded by Thrive Capital, and participated by Nvidia, SoftBank, and Others.
