Archive · 12 Aug 2026

OpenAI Buys Back Nearly $7 Billion in Employee Shares

OpenAI Buys Back Nearly $7 Billion in Employee Shares

OpenAI is a company that makes clever computer programs.

People who work there sometimes get part of their pay as shares, which are little pieces of the company.

Those pieces can become worth a lot of money.

OpenAI decided to buy back nearly $7 billion worth of shares from people who work there now and people who used to work there.

The company paid for the shares itself instead of asking outside investors to buy them.

This lets employees turn their shares into cash right away.

After the deal, the company's value stayed the same at $852 billion.

Many people think OpenAI is getting ready to let the public buy shares someday, which is called an IPO.

This big share buyback is another step in that direction.

Sources