"Awesome." OpenAI employees...sale of 2 trillion won in shares held

Photo Source: Yonhap News

ChatGPT developer OpenAI employees reportedly got the opportunity to cash in by selling shares they received from the company.

Citing unnamed sources, U.S. economic media CNBC reported on the 26th local time that OpenAI has allowed SoftBank to publicly buy shares held by OpenAI employees.

The target stocks are former and current OpenAI employees who received restricted stock units (RSU) from OpenAI at least two years ago and held them for at least that period.

The purchase price is $210 per share, which is worth a total of $1.5 billion (about 2.1 trillion won).

The purchase price per share is the same as the price applied when OpenAI attracted $6.6 billion (about 9.3 trillion won) investment last month.

Current and former employees have until the 24th of next month to decide whether to sell their holdings.

The tender offer was reportedly made at the request of SoftBank Group Chairman Son Jeong-ui, who has wanted to expand his stake in OpenAI.

SoftBank also participated in OpenAI's investment attraction last month and invested $500 million.

OpenAI has previously taken a limited approach, with the company deciding which employees can participate in the tender offer, but this time it has allowed current and former employees to participate equally.

However, the tender offer has nothing to do with the possibility of OpenAI turning into a for-profit company, the sources said.