OpenAI has completed a secondary share sale worth about $7 billion, based on a valuation of $852 billion.

CNBC reported on Aug. 10 that the transaction allows current and former employees to sell part of their shares.

The deal has been pursued since OpenAI completed $122 billion in fundraising in March. It is a tender-offer type transaction designed to let existing shareholder-employees cash out their holdings, rather than a structure in which new funds flow directly into the company. OpenAI has eased some short-term liquidity pressure that could arise before a listing.

The focus is to stabilise the compensation system ahead of an IPO. Large private technology companies often expand stock-based pay, while employees have limited opportunities to convert it to cash. OpenAI opened a channel for employees to sell part of their holdings through this deal. The report said the sale was designed to let current and former employees sell shares based on the company's $852 billion valuation.

OpenAI has expanded rapidly since the launch of ChatGPT in 2022. It has since become one of the world's fastest-growing private companies, and the possibility of an IPO has been raised consistently. The company submitted documents on a confidential basis to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in June for a preliminary review for a listing, but has not disclosed a timetable.

It is also repeatedly carrying out secondary sales of private shares alongside IPO preparations. OpenAI conducted a $6.6 billion tender offer last October based on a valuation of $500 billion. It also carried out a $1.5 billion tender offer in 2024. The latest $7 billion deal extends this pre-IPO strategy.

Rivals are also showing a similar trend. Anthropic is also cited as a large private artificial intelligence company ahead of a listing. But OpenAI has already submitted confidential listing documents, drawing attention to the clearer structure of pursuing employee liquidity and IPO preparations at the same time.

The deal is less an event that changes the company's growth momentum than a signal that OpenAI, now a very large private company, has begun managing stakeholders ahead of a listing. The next focus points are whether OpenAI will continue additional secondary sales and when an actual IPO timetable will take shape after the confidential submission.