CNBC has increased the size of Openai’s secondary share sales by over $4 billion.
The artificial intelligence startup is giving qualified current and former employees the opportunity to sell shares between $6 billion and about $10.3 billion, which were originally targeted, according to those familiar with the offering.
The sale will be made at a $500 billion valuation in line with expectations, said someone who asked not to name it because the details are private. Earlier this year, Openai’s latest funding round valued the company at $300 billion.
Openai announced its offer to its employees on Wednesday. Staff who has held shares for more than two years said they will need to decide whether to participate until the end of September. The transaction is expected to close in October.
Participating investors include SoftBank, Dragoneer Investment Group, Thrive Capital, and Abu Dhabi’s MGX and T. There are RowePrice and more.
Thrive Capital and T. Rowe Price have reduced comments. Representatives from the remaining companies did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.
Openai is one of a handful of high-tech startups that offer employees regular opportunities to sell some of their own equity to reduce public pressure. SpaceX, Stripe, and Databricks use secondary sales to help employees round out some benefits.
In November, Openai allowed employees to sell approximately $1.5 billion worth of shares as part of a tender offer with SoftBank.
