恰逢节日临近:总部位于旧金山的私营公司OpenAI与日本软银集团(SoftBank Group)安排了一项专门股票出售,约400名现任和前任员工将获得数百万美元过节费。
据知情人士透露,此次收购要约允许OpenAI某些员工和前员工按每股210美元将持股出售给软银。交易为内部人士套现部分股权开辟了重要途径,过去一年公司估值翻了一番,达到1570亿美元。
消息人士称,软银计划向符合条件的股东收购价值高达16亿美元的股票,这些股东必须在两年多前获得限制性股票。符合条件的OpenAI股东必须在12月24日之前决定是否出售以及出售的数量。11月美国消费者新闻与商业频道(CNBC)首次报道了软银的收购要约,但到目前为止,符合条件的参与者和股票数量尚不清楚。OpenAI员工人数为2000多名。
对于符合条件的人士来说,这笔交易可能意味着价值不菲的过节费。每位参与者可出售价值高达1000万美元的股票。据消息人士透露,如果出现超额认购,OpenAI现任员工将比前员工享有优先权。符合条件的现员工每人最多可套现1000万美元。根据OpenAI的规定,前员工可能无法用满1000万美元额度,不过根据具体参与人数情况,前员工可套现至少200万美元的股票。
据消息人士透露,OpenAI表示符合出售条件的股票总额价值20亿美元。软银同意出资16亿美元,因此可能有价值4亿美元的股票没有买家。
对软银来说,这笔交易是增持OpenAI的机会,据报道,10月由Thrive Ventures牵头的OpenAI融资66亿美元项目中,软银已投资5亿美元。当前收购要约为每股210美元,与10月OpenAI融资期间的1570亿美元估值基本一致。
亿万富翁孙正义是软银创始人和首席执行官,经常在人工智能领域下大赌注。近日孙正义和当选总统唐纳德·特朗普刚刚宣布,软银计划未来四年向美国的人工智能基础设施项目投资1000亿美元。
OpenAI放宽了此次要约收购的规则,按此前规定前员工很难参与,加入竞争对手的前员工还要受惩罚,因此招致批评。CNBC当时报道称,6月OpenAI告诉员工,“已改变对二级股票销售政策,允许现任和前员工平等参与年度收购要约”。随着在公开市场上市的科技公司越来越少,要约收购对薪酬中很大一块是股权的科技公司员工来说越发重要。
本次要约收购有一点很有趣,即Anthropic首席执行官达里奥·阿莫迪、总裁丹妮拉·阿莫迪和政策主管杰克·克拉克同样有可能出售持有的 OpenAI 股份。三人于 2021 年离开 OpenAI创办了竞争对手 Anthropic,似乎符合参与要约收购的标准。最近Anthropic 从亚马逊融资 40 亿美元,对于是否有员工参与 OpenAI 要约收购,该公司拒绝置评。(财富中文网)
译者:梁宇
审校:夏林
恰逢节日临近:总部位于旧金山的私营公司OpenAI与日本软银集团(SoftBank Group)安排了一项专门股票出售,约400名现任和前任员工将获得数百万美元过节费。
据知情人士透露,此次收购要约允许OpenAI某些员工和前员工按每股210美元将持股出售给软银。交易为内部人士套现部分股权开辟了重要途径,过去一年公司估值翻了一番,达到1570亿美元。
消息人士称,软银计划向符合条件的股东收购价值高达16亿美元的股票,这些股东必须在两年多前获得限制性股票。符合条件的OpenAI股东必须在12月24日之前决定是否出售以及出售的数量。11月美国消费者新闻与商业频道(CNBC)首次报道了软银的收购要约,但到目前为止,符合条件的参与者和股票数量尚不清楚。OpenAI员工人数为2000多名。
对于符合条件的人士来说,这笔交易可能意味着价值不菲的过节费。每位参与者可出售价值高达1000万美元的股票。据消息人士透露,如果出现超额认购,OpenAI现任员工将比前员工享有优先权。符合条件的现员工每人最多可套现1000万美元。根据OpenAI的规定,前员工可能无法用满1000万美元额度,不过根据具体参与人数情况,前员工可套现至少200万美元的股票。
据消息人士透露,OpenAI表示符合出售条件的股票总额价值20亿美元。软银同意出资16亿美元,因此可能有价值4亿美元的股票没有买家。
对软银来说,这笔交易是增持OpenAI的机会,据报道,10月由Thrive Ventures牵头的OpenAI融资66亿美元项目中,软银已投资5亿美元。当前收购要约为每股210美元,与10月OpenAI融资期间的1570亿美元估值基本一致。
亿万富翁孙正义是软银创始人和首席执行官,经常在人工智能领域下大赌注。近日孙正义和当选总统唐纳德·特朗普刚刚宣布,软银计划未来四年向美国的人工智能基础设施项目投资1000亿美元。
OpenAI放宽了此次要约收购的规则,按此前规定前员工很难参与,加入竞争对手的前员工还要受惩罚,因此招致批评。CNBC当时报道称,6月OpenAI告诉员工,“已改变对二级股票销售政策,允许现任和前员工平等参与年度收购要约”。随着在公开市场上市的科技公司越来越少,要约收购对薪酬中很大一块是股权的科技公司员工来说越发重要。
本次要约收购有一点很有趣,即Anthropic首席执行官达里奥·阿莫迪、总裁丹妮拉·阿莫迪和政策主管杰克·克拉克同样有可能出售持有的 OpenAI 股份。三人于 2021 年离开 OpenAI创办了竞争对手 Anthropic,似乎符合参与要约收购的标准。最近Anthropic 从亚马逊融资 40 亿美元,对于是否有员工参与 OpenAI 要约收购,该公司拒绝置评。(财富中文网)
译者:梁宇
审校:夏林
Just in time for the holidays: Roughly 400 current and former OpenAI employees are set to receive multi-million dollar paydays thanks to a special stock sale the privately-held San Francisco company has arranged with Japan’s SoftBank Group.
The tender offer allows certain OpenAI employees and former staffers to sell their stock to SoftBank at $210 per share, according to a source with knowledge of the matter. The transaction opens an important avenue for insiders to cash out some of the equity they have locked up in the AI company, whose valuation has doubled over the past year to $157 billion.
SoftBank plans to purchase up to $1.6 billion worth of stock from eligible shareholders, who must have been issued restricted stock units more than two years ago in order to participate, the source said. Eligible OpenAI shareholders have until December 24 to decide if, and how much, they want to sell. SoftBanks’ tender offer was first reported by CNBC in November, but the number of eligible participants and eligible shares has not been known until now. OpenAI currently has more than 2,000 employees.
For those eligible, the deal could make for a welcome holiday bonus. Each participant will be allowed to sell as much as $10 million worth of vested stock. Current OpenAI employees will receive preference over former employees in the event that the deal is oversubscribed, according to the source. All eligible current employees will be able to cash out the maximum amount of $10 million per person. But, depending on how many people participate, former employees may not be able to sell the full $10 million of equity, though they will be assured the ability to cash out at least $2 million of stock, per OpenAI’s rules.
According to the source, OpenAI has said that the total amount of stock eligible for sale is worth $2 billion. Since SoftBank has agreed to purchase $1.6 billion, that leaves as much as $400 million worth of stock potentially without a buyer.
For SoftBank, the deal is an opportunity to bolster its stake in OpenAI, after reportedly investing $500 million in OpenAI’s $6.6 billion fundraising round in October, led by Thrive Ventures. The current tender offer’s $210 per share price aligns with the $157 billion valuation that OpenAI fetched during the October fundraising.
SoftBank, led by billionaire founder and CEO Masayoshi Son, is generally making big bets in the AI space: Yesterday Son and President-elect Donald Trump announced plans for SoftBank Group to invest $100 billion in AI infrastructure projects in the U.S. over the next four years.
OpenAI has loosened the rules for this tender offer, after drawing criticism over previous offerings that made it more difficult for former employees to participate, and which penalized former employees who had joined competitors. OpenAI told employees in June that it had “changed its policies toward secondary share sales to allow current and former employees to participate equally in its annual tender offers,” CNBC reported at the time. With fewer tech companies listing shares on the public markets, tender offers have become increasingly important for tech workers who are typically compensated with a significant portion of equity.
One interesting wrinkle to the current tender offer is the potential for Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, president Daniela Amodei, and head of policy Jack Clark to sell any OpenAI shares they own. The trio, who left OpenAI in 2021 to found competitor Anthropic, would seemingly meet the criteria to participate in the tender offer. Anthropic, which recently raised $4 billion from Amazon, declined to comment on whether any of its employees are participating in the OpenAI tender offer.