Over 600 OpenAI Employees Sold $6.6B in Shares at $11M Each Before Any IPO

• Over 600 OpenAI employees sold $6.6B in shares at $11M average, with 75 hitting the $30M cap
• These were regular employees who took equity instead of cash and quietly became multimillionaires before a single share ever traded publicly
• OpenAI shares went from a $29B tender offer valuation in 2021 to $400B by October 2025, a 13x return in under four years

In October 2025, more than 600 current and former OpenAI employees sold their shares back to the firm. This was a combined $6.6 billion worth of shares, giving the staff one of the biggest pre-IPO cash-outs the tech industry has seen. The deal, which valued the firm at $400 billion, gave employees an average payout of about $11 million each. It even put the spotlight on OpenAI stock and a potential IPO.

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How OpenAI’s Tender Offer Made 600 Staff Instant Multimillionaires

The sale allowed employees to sell shares directly to investors. This included Thrive Capital, SoftBank, Dragoneer, MGX, and T. Rowe Price. Around 75 employees reportedly reached the $30 million cap set for the transaction.

The scale of the payouts shows how quickly OpenAI’s valuation has grown in recent years. In 2021, the company was valued at about $29 billion. This was during an earlier tender offer. By October 2025, that figure had surged to a staggering $400 billion.

Many OpenAI employees who took part in the sale joined the company before ChatGPT turned generative AI into a mainstream business. Instead of higher cash salaries, several employees accepted compensation packages tied to equity.

In addition, the firm has continued to raise money as competition in AI intensifies. In March 2026, OpenAI reportedly closed a funding round at an $852 billion valuation. Investors included SoftBank, Microsoft, Nvidia, Amazon, and Andreessen Horowitz.

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Employees Were Finally Able to Cash Out Before Any IPO

The October tender offer gave employees one of their first major opportunities to convert private equity into cash before any public listing. OpenAI reportedly requires employees to wait two years before becoming eligible to sell shares.

Amidst, the company continues spending heavily on AI infrastructure and cloud partnerships. This includes major agreements tied to Oracle, CoreWeave, and the Stargate AI project. While speculation around an OpenAI IPO continues, the company has not confirmed a timeline for going public.

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