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The first group of people to reap huge rewards from the AI boom: OpenAI employees can cash out up to $30 million
Why do AI companies choose to trade in the secondary market before going public?
IT Home, May 11 — According to The Wall Street Journal, OpenAI allowed employees to sell shares through the secondary market last year, with each person able to cash out up to $30 million (IT Home note: approximately 204 million RMB at current exchange rates). As a result, hundreds of current and former OpenAI employees became some of the earliest individuals to receive substantial financial returns amid the AI boom.
The report states that in October last year, over 600 current and former OpenAI employees participated in secondary market transactions, selling a total of $6.6 billion (approximately 44.93B RMB at current exchange rates) worth of stock. This transaction valued OpenAI at about $400 billion (approximately 2.72 trillion RMB at current exchange rates).
This deal enabled eligible employees to sell part of their holdings. About 75 participants sold the maximum allowed amount, each cashing out $30 million (approximately 204 million RMB at current exchange rates).
OpenAI plans to go public in Q4 2026, with an IPO potentially valuing the company at up to $1 trillion (approximately 6.81 trillion RMB at current exchange rates). Competitor Anthropic also plans to go public as early as October.
The Financial Times of the UK reported in March that OpenAI expects to expand its employee base from 4,500 to 8,000 by the end of 2026, nearly doubling.
Founded in 2015 as a non-profit organization, OpenAI later established a for-profit division. The non-profit organization now called OpenAI Foundation holds 26% of the shares and can acquire more shares upon reaching certain milestones.
According to The Information, by the end of February, OpenAI’s annualized revenue had exceeded $25 billion (approximately 27.2k RMB at current exchange rates).