OpenAI completes $7bn employee share buyback, may delay IPO to 2027

OpenAI has completed a tender offer to buy shares from current and former employees for about $7 billion, according to Bloomberg. The company was valued at $852 billion in this deal, the same as in its March funding round. Unlike previous buybacks in 2024 and October 2025, when external investors like Thrive Capital and SoftBank were involved, this time OpenAI used its own funds. In March 2026, OpenAI raised $122 billion in a record funding round with investors including Amazon, Nvidia, and SoftBank. OpenAI has filed confidentially for an IPO with the U.S. SEC in June, and Reuters reported that the listing could happen as early as September 2026. However, according to The New York Times, CEO Sam Altman insists on a $1 trillion valuation, which may postpone the IPO to 2027. The last private valuation of the ChatGPT developer was $730 billion. Advisors warned that an IPO below $1 trillion may not attract high investor interest due to tech market volatility. Altman was offered two options: lower the target valuation and IPO soon, or delay the listing to 2027. In related news, Anthropic, the developer of Claude, also filed confidentially for an IPO on June 1 and, after a funding round in late May 2026, surpassed OpenAI in valuation at $965 billion.