OpenAI has repurchased around $7 billion in employee shares, with the transaction valuing the company at $852 billion.

August 11th, according to Bloomberg, informed sources revealed that OpenAI has completed an employee stock buyback transaction, helping current and former employees sell about $7 billion in company stock in preparation for a potential IPO.

Two sources said that the tender offer was conducted by OpenAI itself to repurchase employee shares, rather than bringing in external investors to make the purchase. The transaction valued OpenAI at $85.2 billion, consistent with the company's recent funding round valuation. OpenAI declined to comment.

OpenAI has previously provided employees with the opportunity to sell shares through investors such as Thrive Capital and SoftBank Group. In March of this year, the company raised $12.2 billion from large tech companies and venture capital firms, and in June, it said it had secretly submitted IPO-related documents.

Meanwhile, OpenAI has been in intense competition with Anthropic this year. Bloomberg reported that Anthropic has recently gained momentum in the AI software field, surpassing OpenAI in valuation and may go public ahead of OpenAI.