SoftBank invests $1.5 billion in OpenAI, enabling staff to sell shares through a tender offer

OpenAI is inviting employees to sell approximately $1.5 billion in shares in a fresh tender offer to SoftBank.

The additional funding will enable the Japanese tech behemoth to acquire a larger stake in the AI business while also allowing current and former OpenAI employees to cash out their shares.

Employees will have until December 24 to determine whether or not to participate in the new tender offer, which has not been previously announced, according to one of the sources. The deal was prompted by SoftBank billionaire founder and CEO Masayoshi Son, who insisted on a greater share in the business after investing $500 million in OpenAI’s last investment round, according to one of the sources.

SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2 recently invested in three AI startups: Glean, Perplexity, and Poolside. SoftBank has around 470 portfolio firms and $160 billion in assets between its two vision funds.

Even without SoftBank’s vast resources, OpenAI has easily raised billions of dollars. Its valuation has risen to $157 billion in the two years after it launched ChatGPT. OpenAI has raised over $13 billion from Microsoft, and it closed its most recent $6.6 billion round in October, anchored by Thrive Capital and with participation from chipmaker Nvidia, SoftBank, and others.

The corporation recently secured a $4 billion revolving line of credit, increasing its overall liquidity to more than $10 billion. OpenAI anticipates approximately $5 billion in losses on $3.7 billion in revenue this year.