OpenAI eyes US$500b valuation in possible share sale: reports
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The news: OpenAI is reportedly in talks for a potential share sale for current and former employees which would value the AI giant at USD500 billion ($769 billion), according to media reports.
The numbers: The valuation would mark a steep increase from OpenAI’s current valuation of USD300 billion, which it achieved in its most recent funding round - a USD40 billion investment led by SoftBank - as the company notches gains in users and revenue as AI competition continues to intensify.
Bloomberg says that the USD40 billion round was reportedly oversubscribed by about five times.
The context: The FT reports that OpenAI is already discussing a valuation that almost doubles its most recent valuation, with investors including Thrive Capital, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
A secondary stock sale would allow current and former workers to sell their shares, sources told the FT, and that the valuation at which they would sell is not fixed, and the amount of stock sold will depend on demand from investors. The sale is likely to be considerably larger than the USD1.5 billion stock sale conducted by the company in late 2024.
Bloomberg and the FT said that both Thrive Capital and OpenAI declined to comment on the reports.
The secondary share sale could be a way for OpenAI to incentivise staff to remain at the company, after the company has seen a number of its research staff lured away with nine-figure pay packages to join Meta’s ‘superintelligence’ AI team.
OpenAI expects its ChatGPT platform to reach 700 million weekly active users this week, up from 500 million at the end of March. The app also recently crossed 3 billion user messages a day.
