SoftBank has made a significant $1.5 billion investment in OpenAI through a new tender offer. This deal allows OpenAI employees and former staff to sell their shares at $210 each, in line with the company’s latest valuation of $157 billion.
Employees who have held their shares for at least two years can participate in the tender, with the deadline set for December 24.
This move offers much-needed liquidity for employees, especially in a dormant IPO market, while also giving SoftBank a larger stake in OpenAI.
The investment builds on SoftBank’s earlier $500 million contribution to OpenAI’s $6.6 billion funding round in October.
OpenAI has experienced remarkable growth since launching ChatGPT, raising a total of $13 billion from investors like Microsoft. The company also secured a $4 billion credit line, giving it more than $10 billion in liquidity.
However, the business remains capital-intensive, with expected losses of $5 billion on $3.7 billion in revenue this year.
SoftBank’s CEO, Masayoshi Son, has been a strong advocate for AI, with plans to allocate tens of billions of dollars to the sector.
This latest investment aligns with his strategy to back leading AI companies. SoftBank’s Vision Fund has already invested in AI startups like Glean and Perplexity, further solidifying its focus on the industry.
As OpenAI faces growing competition from rivals like Anthropic and Google, this new funding helps it maintain its edge in the rapidly expanding generative AI market, predicted to exceed $1 trillion in revenue within a decade.
The tender offer also positions OpenAI to better retain talent while preparing for future growth in private markets.