OpenAI Sweetens Private Equity Pitch Against Anthropic with 17.5% Guaranteed Return

Reuters / US News·high signal

OpenAI is offering private-equity firms a guaranteed minimum return of 17.5% plus early model access as it races Anthropic to lock in enterprise distribution via buyout firm partnerships. The $4B joint venture targets TPG as anchor with Bain, Advent, and Brookfield as co-investors; Anthropic's competing venture offers no such guaranteed return. At least two PE firms including Thoma Bravo declined both deals citing concerns about long-term profit profile, signaling skepticism about AI enterprise economics even among institutional money.