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Current and former OpenAI employees have become increasingly frustrated with the fact that the company has not allowed them to donate their shares to charity in years. But OpenAI appears to have finally caved to the pressure, sending an email from the company’s equity team stating that current and former employees with eligible shares will be able to participate, according to a memo seen by OpenAI. Edge.
There’s a lot of money at stake: It could award employees who get six-figure stock deals 2019 The opportunity to donate millions of dollars to charity.
A source familiar with the situation said Edge The company is about 18 months behind on its promise, he said, adding that it’s especially concerning because a charitable stock donation is something the company has used in the past as a way to attract new employees — especially as the AI talent wars heat up. OpenAI competitor Anthropic offers an optional 1:1 stock donation match, for “up to 25% of your stock grant,” according to its careers webpage.
The other problem: It’s a quick deadline for participants to decide on the donation amount and details, which is much shorter than the minimum Authorized by the Securities and Exchange Commission A time period for other types of liquidation decisions, such as 20 business days for a tender offer. The short turnaround period means some people are finding it difficult to participate, especially since OpenAI’s email strongly recommends that participants work with a tax or financial advisor on the decision, and that some people have fewer units to donate due to the lack of notice and indefinite feedback on previous plans, the source said. OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The decision comes after years of OpenAI employees becoming increasingly concerned about the company’s control over their shares, as its valuation rose and its corporate structure changed. In the past, the company has taken Restrictive approach that raised red flags For current and former employees – including concerns that OpenAI could do so Reclaiming acquired shares If employees violate non-disparagement agreements – and this year, it has become increasingly common for employees to voice concerns In Slack threads and all-hands meetings About the fact that they couldn’t donate.
Previous donation rounds took place in 2021 and 2022, but current and former employees have been frustrated by the gap since the last donation round. Last year, after OpenAI allowed employees to sell $1.5 billion in stocks In a tender offer for SoftBank employees It was said An opportunity for a charitable donation was expected shortly after, but it has been postponed indefinitely. Now that OpenAI has closed its massive funding round and completed its for-profit restructuring, the company is ostensibly loosening the reins.
Late last month, OpenAI announced the completion of a project Restructuringwhich she had been negotiating with attorneys general in California and Delaware for more than a year. The company was founded in 2015 as a non-profit research laboratory. One of the most important remaining questions is whether the OpenAI nonprofit entity will retain control over the technology it builds, most notably the potential development of artificial general intelligence, or AGI — systems that equal or exceed human cognitive ability.
OpenAI’s stock price has also risen significantly since last month, when current and former employees were able to sell their shares in a tender offer for about $430 per unit — now, each share is worth about $483 in terms of fair market value, according to the source, who added that they believe the rise is partly because OpenAI no longer owes its nonprofit as much potential future earnings as it did before.