OpenAI and Anthropic employees cash out billions in secondary share sales before IPO
Staff at the two biggest AI labs are turning paper wealth into cash long before any IPO. OpenAI ran a $6.6 billion secondary sale, with dozens of employees hitting the $30 million cap, while Anthropic lined up a tender at a $350 billion valuation. SoftBank $SFTBY sits among the b
The biggest names in artificial intelligence are letting their employees get rich without waiting for a stock market debut. OpenAI completed a secondary share sale worth about $6.6 billion, in which more than 600 current and former staff sold equity and dozens cashed out the maximum allowed amount of $30 million each, at a company valuation in the range of $400 billion. Anthropic has lined up its own tender offer that would let employees sell shares at a valuation of at least $350 billion. SoftBank $SFTBY has been among the large buyers stepping in to absorb these sales, while Microsoft $MSFT remains OpenAI's largest strategic backer. These deals matter because they let early employees convert hard-to-sell startup equity into cash while both companies stay private, easing the pressure to rush toward an initial public offering and helping the labs retain talent that might otherwise leave to realize gains elsewhere. For a sector burning enormous sums on computing power, the ability to reward staff without going public is becoming a competitive tool in its own right.