据报道，OpenAI完成70亿美元员工股票回购要约

OpenAI已从这家私人持有的前沿AI实验室员工手中回购了价值70亿美元的股份，旨在为其员工队伍提供流动性。

据彭博社报道，这笔交易对OpenAI的估值为8520亿美元，与其今年3月最近一轮融资时的估值相同。该轮融资为公司资金储备增加了1220亿美元。

该公司还在6月向美国证券交易委员会秘密提交了文件，为可能在今年晚些时候进行的IPO做准备。不过，股票回购要约表明，IPO可能不会很快到来。随着许多科技公司相较于前几代初创企业更长时间地保持私有化，私募股票回购已被证明是一种有效方式，可让企业员工实现其股权薪酬的价值，而不必面对公开募股带来的困难。

截至发稿时，OpenAI未回应置评请求。

上个月，OpenAI CEO Sam Altman在一则帖子中写道：“我们过去12个月的表现并不是有史以来最好的，这主要是我的责任；但我们即将迎来迄今为止最好的12个月。”准备上市的公司通常希望展现强劲的财务业绩以吸引投资者，而《华尔街日报》在4月报道称，该公司未能达成内部财务目标。

尽管OpenAI惊人的增长势头和产品很可能在公开市场引发巨大兴趣，但其竞争对手Anthropic可能的上市——该公司据报道在今年早些时候已实现盈利——也使OpenAI有理由确保以最佳状态示人。这次股票回购也可能是另一项信号：市场期待已久的上市将等待OpenAI缩减押注、聚焦企业业务的新战略取得进展后再推进。

OpenAI has bought back $7 billion worth of shares from employees at the privately held frontier AI lab as part of an effort to provide liquidity to its workforce.

The deal, reported by Bloomberg, valued OpenAI at $852 billion, the same as its most recent fundraising round in March, which added $122 billion to the company’s war chest.

The company also filed confidentially with the Securities and Exchange Commission in June to prepare for a potential IPO later this year. However, a tender offer suggests that an IPO may not be forthcoming soon. With many tech companies remaining private longer than previous generations of startups, private tenders have proven a useful way for firms to allow employees to realize the value of their stock compensation without the difficulties that come with a public offering.

OpenAI did not respond to a request for comment by publication time.

Last month, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman wrote that “we did not have our best 12 months ever, which is mostly my fault, but we are about to have our best 12 months to date.” Firms going public typically want to show strong financial results to bring investors on board, and the Wall Street Journal reported in April that the company missed internal financial goals.

While OpenAI’s incredible growth and products are likely to generate massive interest in public markets, the potential debut of rival Anthropic — which was reportedly profitable earlier this year — gives the company a reason to ensure it puts its best face forward. The tender could be another signal that the much-anticipated offering will wait for OpenAI’s new strategy of paring down its bets and focusing on its enterprise business to gain traction.