OpenAI, the Sam Altman-led company behind ChatGPT, has now bought TBPN, an online talk show that often interviews industry CEOs and has built itself a loyal Silicon Valley following.

Started in late 2024 by entrepreneurs John Coogan and Jordi Hays, TBPN competes against the likes of media channels like CNBC. The 11-person company started livestreaming for three hours every weekday in March 2025, and said it generated $5 million in revenue from advertising last year and said it was on track to earn $30 million in 2026.

According to a report by the Wall Street Journal citing a memo seen by Fidji Simo, OpenAI’s CEO of applications, the AI startup bought TBPN to encourage constructive conversation around the change AI creates by helping the show grow.

“They’ve helped many brands market online, and because they have a strong pulse on where the industry is going, their comms and marketing ideas have really impressed me”

TBPN will now report to Chris Lehane, OpenAI’s chief global affairs officer, who will also handle the talk show’s communications and marketing outside the show. However, OpenAI’s acquisition of the online talk show comes as a surprise, as the AI startup hadn’t previously expressed any plans of entering the news business.

Competing against mainstream channels like CNBC, the financial details of the deal haven’t been disclosed yet, but OpenAI says TBPN would remain editorially independent, and retain control over its programming, guest selection and production schedule. But under OpenAI, TBPN will close its advertising business, which saw co-founders and hosts Coogan and Hats read commercials in radio-host style and sport racing jackets with sponsor logos.

“This isn’t new in form. Media has long sat within larger enterprises, whether that was ABC/CBS/NBC sitting within large conglomerates, or Microsoft co-creating MSNBC, or Bloomberg News belonging to Bloomberg LP,” OpenAI said in its newsletter called The Prompt.

For those not in the loop, TBPN is known for hosting high-profile guests like Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, OpenAI head Sam Altman and the acclaimed filmmaker James Cameron.