OpenAI has repurchased $7 billion in shares from its employees at the privately held frontier AI lab, a move aimed at giving its workforce a chance to cash in on their equity. According to a report from Bloomberg, the buyback values the company at $852 billion—matching its valuation from the latest funding round in March, which injected an additional $122 billion into its reserves.

In June, the company also filed confidentially with the Securities and Exchange Commission, a preliminary step toward a possible IPO later this year. Yet the tender offer suggests an initial public offering may not be imminent. As many tech firms choose to stay private longer than startups of earlier generations, private share buybacks have become a practical way for companies to let employees realize the value of their stock compensation without the complexities of going public.

OpenAI did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication. Last month, CEO Sam Altman acknowledged the challenges of the past year, writing, “we did not have our best 12 months ever, which is mostly my fault, but we are about to have our best 12 months to date.” Companies typically aim to showcase strong financial performance when courting public investors, and the Wall Street Journal reported in April that OpenAI had missed some internal financial targets.

While OpenAI’s rapid growth and popular products are likely to draw significant interest from public markets, the possible debut of rival Anthropic—which was reportedly profitable earlier this year—adds pressure for the company to put its most polished foot forward. This tender offer may be yet another sign that the much-anticipated IPO will wait until OpenAI’s new approach of narrowing its focus and prioritizing its enterprise business begins to show results.