OpenAI has launched a tender offer for its employees to convert their shares into cash for about $1.5 billion, and has reached an agreement to sell those shares to Japanese technology giant SoftBank Group, according to sources close to the company.
The claims come after OpenAI raised $6.6 billion in a major investment round in early October at a valuation of $157 billion from an investor group that also included Microsoft, Nvidia and SoftBank.
SoftBank had invested $500 million in OpenAI in a previous round. The company has not made any official announcements on the matter, but sources say the deal is expected to close this week.
According to CNBC, the latest investment was led by SoftBank’s billionaire CEO Masaoshi Son. Son has been adamant about taking a larger stake in OpenAI and has been pushing for the process to move forward.
