According to Odaily Planet Daily, around 400 current and former OpenAI employees will be able to cash out millions of dollars due to a special stock sale plan arranged with Japan's SoftBank Group.
This tender offer allows certain OpenAI employees and former employees to sell their shares to SoftBank at a price of $210 per share. The company's valuation has doubled over the past year, reaching $157 billion.
SoftBank plans to purchase up to $1.6 billion worth of shares from eligible shareholders, who must have received restricted stock units more than two years ago to participate.
Eligible OpenAI shareholders must decide whether to sell and how much to sell by December 24. Current OpenAI employees will have priority over former employees, with each current employee allowed to cash out up to $10 million.
Depending on the number of participants, former employees may not be able to sell their entire stake of $10 million, but according to OpenAI's regulations, they will be able to cash out at least $2 million in shares. The total amount of shares eligible for sale is $2 billion, and SoftBank has agreed to purchase $1.6 billion, with potentially $400 million worth of shares going unsold.