On April 2, 2026, OpenAI officially announced the acquisition of TBPN, the Technology Business Programming Network. The deal marks the company’s first purchase of a media property, a sharp pivot for a company better known for building AI models than buying talk shows.
TBPN will sit inside OpenAI’s Strategy organization and report directly to Chris Lehane, OpenAI’s chief political and communications strategist. The show’s founders, Jordi Hays and John Coogan will stay on, advising OpenAI on communications and marketing while continuing to host.
Introducing TBPN
If you haven’t heard of TBPN, think of it as ESPN’s SportsCenter but for the tech and startup world. TBPN is a daily, three-hour live show streaming on YouTube, X, and LinkedIn, hosted by former entrepreneurs Jordi Hays and John Coogan.
The show launched in 2024 and quickly attracted high-profile guests including Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, and Sam Altman himself. TBPN generated $5 million in ad revenue in 2025. It was profitable with no outside investors, and is on track to exceed $30 million in revenue this year with sponsors including Google’s Gemini, Ramp, Plaid, and the New York Stock Exchange.
TBPN is my favorite tech show. We want them to keep that going and for them to do what they do so well. I don’t expect them to go any easier on us.am sure I’ll do my part to help enable that with occasional stupid decisions. — Sam Altman, OpenAI CEO, via X
Why OpenAI Acquired TBPN
OpenAI has a PR problem, and TBPN has an audience. For over a year, OpenAI has seriously struggled with its public image, and the company’s chief communications officer role has remained vacant since Hannah Wong departed earlier this year.
Fidji Simo, OpenAI’s CEO of AGI Deployment, framed it plainly in her internal note: “The standard communications playbook just doesn’t apply to us.” Rather than rebuild a comms function from scratch, OpenAI decided to buy one that already works.
The strategic logic is straightforward: the OpenAI TBPN acquisition gives the company instant access to a highly engaged, tech-savvy audience of builders, founders, and investors that traditional PR campaigns simply can’t reach. Hays and Coogan’s marketing instincts will also be deployed beyond the show, shaping how OpenAI communicates the impact of AI to the broader public.
For viewers, the show goes on. TBPN will continue to go live at 11 AM Pacific every weekday. The agreement explicitly protects the hosts’ right to choose their own guests and editorial direction including the ability to criticize OpenAI.
What changes is that Hays and Coogan can now serve as internal comms and marketing advisors inside one of the most powerful AI companies on earth. That is a significant dual role the industry will be watching closely.
