OpenAI just launched a $10 billion company whose SOLE mission is to “push” businesses to adopt AI. And they’re literally guaranteeing investors a 17.5% annualized return to do it. It’s called “The Deployment Company.” OpenAI finalized it yesterday with 19 investors, including TPG, SoftBank, Bain Capital, Brookfield, and Advent International.
Here’s the structure: OpenAI is putting in $1.5 billion. Private equity funds are putting in $4 billion. In return, these funds are opening up their 2,000+ portfolio companies with relevant customer bases for OpenAI’s products. OpenAI then deploys entire teams of engineers directly inside these companies—similar to Palantir—to integrate its tools into day-to-day operations.
And here’s the big red flag in the whole story: OpenAI is guaranteeing these funds a 17.5% annualized return for five years. This means that even if the companies in the portfolio don’t want the AI, don’t need it, or don’t get any value from it, OpenAI still has to pay them. Think about what that means for a second: OpenAI is so desperate for corporate adoption that it’s paying Wall Street to “push” its product into thousands of businesses. They’ve turned private equity funds into a distribution cartel with a guaranteed commission.
This has never happened before in enterprise software. No software company in history has guaranteed above-market returns to financial backers just to install their product. And it gets even crazier: Just minutes after OpenAI’s announcement, Anthropic announced its own version. A $1.5 billion joint venture with Blackstone, Goldman Sachs, and Hellman & Friedman.
Same scenario. Two companies with a combined private valuation of over $1 TRILLION have come to the same conclusion on the same day: organic demand for their products isn’t growing fast enough. If enterprises were lining up to buy AI themselves, they wouldn’t have to “bribe” private equity funds with guaranteed returns to “stuff” it into their portfolios. They would just sell it normally—like every other software company in history. But they can’t. Because the gap between what AI companies promise and what enterprises actually experience is still huge. OpenAI’s COO, Brad Lightcup, just took on a new role specifically to lead this “push.” They’ve also signed “Frontier Alliances” with major consulting firms to deploy AI through professional services.
Every move they make screams the same thing: We have a demand problem. And all of this is happening right before OpenAI tries to go public for $850 billion. If they can show Wall Street that 2,000+ companies “use OpenAI products” through this PE channel, they’ll be inflating their corporate metrics right before the IPO. It doesn’t matter if the companies really need it or if it creates real value. All that matters is the number on the S-1.
This is the AI playbook entering its most dangerous phase. The technology is real, but the business model is driven by financial tricks, guaranteed returns, and distribution deals that look more like a pharmaceutical company paying doctors to prescribe its medicine than a software company winning quality customers.
Both OpenAI and Anthropic admitted it.
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