OpenAI has purchased the Silicon Valley talk show TBPN.

      The daily live program, hosted by former founders John Coogan and Jordi Hays, will be part of OpenAI’s strategy organization and will report to chief global affairs officer Chris Lehane. The terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. OpenAI states that TBPN will maintain its editorial independence.

      OpenAI has acquired TBPN, the Technology Business Programming Network, which launched in March 2025 and has developed a dedicated audience among founders, investors, and executives. This acquisition represents OpenAI's first foray into purchasing a media organization. TBPN will integrate into OpenAI’s strategy division, reporting to Chris Lehane, the company's chief global affairs officer.

      The show, which is hosted by John Coogan and Jordi Hays, both former tech founders, is broadcast daily on YouTube and X for about three hours, discussing topics related to technology, business, AI, and defense. It has garnered a significant following in Silicon Valley, with an average viewership of around 70,000 per episode across various platforms, and has featured prominent guests such as Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, and Sam Altman.

      According to the Wall Street Journal, the show generated around $5 million in advertising revenue in 2025 and is projected to surpass $30 million this year. Sponsors include fintech companies Ramp and Plaid, along with Google’s Gemini division and the New York Stock Exchange. TBPN currently employs 11 people and is reported to be profitable.

      Fidji Simo, OpenAI’s CEO of Applications, informed the staff about the acquisition in an internal memo, describing TBPN as "one of the places where the conversation about AI and builders is actually happening day to day." She assured that OpenAI would uphold TBPN’s editorial independence, allowing the team to select its own guests and make its editorial choices. Altman, who has been featured on the show several times, expressed on X that TBPN is “my favourite tech show” and remarked: “I don’t expect them to go any easier on us.”

      This acquisition is a notable move for an AI lab, raising immediate questions about editorial independence, which OpenAI is proactively addressing. TBPN will report to Lehane, who has a background as a senior strategist in the Clinton administration and is noted as a political operative adept at managing press narratives. The program has previously reported on OpenAI and its competitors, a situation that will now exist under its ownership structure. Coogan mentioned on X that he has known Altman for over ten years, with Altman supporting his first startup back in 2013. Whether the asserted editorial firewall will hold will be determined over time.