OpenAI allows employees to sell approximately 1.5 billion dollars worth of stocks to SoftBank. According to two informed sources, this new financing will enable the Japanese technology group to acquire a larger share of the AI startup and allow current and former OpenAI employees to cash out their shares. One of the sources said employees will decide whether to participate in the new acquisition offer by December 24. The deal was driven by SoftBank's billionaire founder and CEO Masayoshi Son. After investing 0.5 billion dollars in the previous round of financing for OpenAI, Son has been insisting on increasing his shareholding in the startup. One of the sources noted that this acquisition offer is unrelated to OpenAI's potential plans to restructure the company into a for-profit enterprise.

This news highlights Masayoshi Son's interest in the field of AI and support for the most valuable private companies. SoftBank was an early investor in Arm, and Son mentioned in a recent meeting that he is saving 'tens of billions of dollars' to take the 'next step' in the AI field. He has previously invested in Apple, Qualcomm, and Alibaba.

SoftBank's Vision Fund has recently invested in AI startups Lean, Perplexity, and Poolside. The two Vision Funds under SoftBank have about 470 portfolio companies and 160 billion dollars in assets.

A person close to Masayoshi Son stated that the investment in OpenAI aligns with SoftBank's desire to deploy cash in capital-intensive business models.