Author：TechFlow
Author: Xiao Ba, Deep Tide TechFlow
Deep Tide Guide:OpenAI announced the acquisition of Silicon Valley tech livestreaming show TBPN. The transaction amount was not disclosed, but the Financial Times, citing sources familiar with the matter, said it was in the "hundreds of millions of dollars" range.
The program will be integrated into OpenAI's strategy department and will report directly to Chief Global Affairs Officer Chris Lehane.
OpenAI has pledged to preserve TBPN's editorial independence, but the program's advertising business will be shut down after the acquisition, and it remains uncertain whether the competitor's CEO will appear on the show in the future.
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OpenAI has officially crossed over into the media industry.
According to reports from CNBC, TechCrunch, Bloomberg, and other media outlets on April 2, OpenAI announced its acquisition of TBPN (Technology Business Programming Network), marking the company's first acquisition of media assets since its inception. TBPN, co-hosted by former tech entrepreneurs John Coogan and Jordi Hays, broadcasts three hours daily on YouTube, X, and LinkedIn, covering topics in technology, business, AI, and defense. It has been described by The New York Times as "Silicon Valley's latest obsession."
In an internal memo, OpenAI CEO Fidji Simo stated, "Traditional communication strategies are not working for us. We are driving a massive technological shift."
TBPN: A tech-driven version of SportsCenter, established for one year and attracting 70,000 viewers per episode.
TBPN launched in March 2025 with a team of only 11 people, yet it quickly became a hit in Silicon Valley. According to the Wall Street Journal, the show averages about 70,000 viewers per episode, with 58,000 YouTube subscribers. The numbers aren't huge, but the audience is extremely high-quality: Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Salesforce CEO Benioff, Palantir CEO Karp, and Altman himself have all appeared on the show.
The company's financial performance is equally impressive. TBPN generated approximately $5 million in advertising revenue in 2025, achieving profitability and operating without external investors. According to the WSJ, the company's revenue target for 2026 exceeds $30 million. Axios, however, reports that TBPN previously hired former Postmates and HQ Trivia executive Dylan Abruscato as president, aiming to increase revenue to $15 million by 2026 (the two sources have conflicting data).
The show was originally called "Technology Brothers," a name that, according to a New York Times report in October 2025, was a self-deprecating jab at the derogatory term "tech bros." The two hosts offer a Silicon Valley insider's perspective, providing real-time news analysis and conversations with founders. TechCrunch positions it as the "SportsCenter of the tech industry," a "safe space" where industry leaders can chat freely and occasionally generate news.
Merged into the strategy department, advertising business shut down
Following the acquisition, TBPN will be integrated into OpenAI's strategy department, reporting directly to Chief Global Affairs Officer Chris Lehane. In a memo, Simo pledged that TBPN would retain its editorial independence, "continuing to independently decide on program content, select guests, and make editorial judgments." Altman posted on the X platform that TBPN was his "favorite tech show," adding, "I don't expect them to be any nicer to us; I'll definitely do something stupid every now and then to give them material."
However, TechCrunch directly pointed out the sensitivity of this arrangement in its report: an AI giant about to go public acquired a tech show that frequently discusses itself and its competitors, and the show's manager, Lehane, has a controversial background.
According to TechCrunch, Lehane is the originator of the term "right-wing conspiracy theory" from the Clinton White House era and has been described as a "master of political dark art." He is also the driving force behind Fairshake, a major crypto PAC that spent hundreds of millions of dollars attacking anti-crypto candidates in the 2024 election. After joining OpenAI in 2024, Lehane has exerted significant influence on AI regulatory policy.
According to the WSJ, TBPN's advertising business will be shut down following the acquisition. This means the show will no longer rely on external advertisers to maintain its operations, and its economic independence will be entirely borne by OpenAI. Axios' analysis points out that it's uncertain whether CEOs of competitors will still be willing to appear on the show after TBPN's acquisition by OpenAI. The show may gradually evolve into traditional "corporate-owned content," primarily serving the narrative needs of OpenAI, its partners, and investors.
Coogan's decade-long relationship with Altman
TBPN co-founder Coogan posted on the X platform that the acquisition is "a complete loop" for him, as his partnership with Altman has lasted for over a decade. Altman funded Coogan's first company in 2013. Last year, Altman was the first AI lab director to appear on TBPN's program.
In a statement, co-founder Hays said, "Over the past year, we've not only had a close look at OpenAI, but also at the entire ecosystem. While we've sometimes been critical of the industry, what impressed us most after engaging deeply with Sam and the OpenAI team was their openness to feedback and their commitment to doing the right thing."
The show proceeded live as scheduled on the day the acquisition was announced. Coogan told thousands of online viewers during the program, "This wasn't an April Fool's joke; it happened yesterday."
Narrative planning ahead of its IPO: Does OpenAI need a talk show?
From a timeline perspective, this acquisition comes at a crucial juncture for OpenAI's rapid expansion. Earlier this week, OpenAI announced the completion of a new $122 billion funding round, bringing its post-money valuation to $852 billion. The company is currently preparing for an IPO, and Bloomberg previously reported that SpaceX's confidential IPO filings listed OpenAI and Anthropic as potential candidates for subsequent IPOs this year.
According to Altagic, OpenAI is currently facing public image challenges. Following its cooperation agreement with the U.S. Department of Defense in February, Anthropic's Claude briefly topped the Apple App Store's free app charts. A boycott movement called "QuitGPT" is also gaining momentum, with OpenAI President Greg Brockman citing the reputational challenges facing the AI industry as a key reason for the company's increased political spending.
In this context, the acquisition of TBPN can be understood as OpenAI's attempt to establish a direct narrative channel outside of the traditional public relations system. Simo's wording in the memo directly points out this motivation: "We are not a typical company. We are driving a massive technological revolution. Our mission to bring AGI to the world means that we have a responsibility to create space for genuine, constructive dialogue around AI transformation."
According to the Financial Times, the acquisition was valued at "a few hundred million dollars." This is relatively small for a company that recently raised $122 billion and aims for $280 billion in revenue by 2030. Simo also mentioned in her memo that she looks forward to leveraging Coogan and Hays' "communication and marketing intuition" outside of the show to help OpenAI innovate how it communicates the impact of AI.
Tech giants acquiring media assets is not unprecedented. Jeff Bezos's 2013 acquisition of The Washington Post, Salesforce founder Benioff's acquisition of Time magazine, and Robinhood's acquisition of financial newsletter MarketSnacks all raised questions about editorial independence. A recent example is fintech company Plaid's acquisition of industry newsletter This Week in Fintech last month. OpenAI's acquisition of TBPN continues this pattern, but with a key difference: the media targets in these acquisitions mostly do not focus on reporting about the acquiring company itself.
