Overview

• Current and former staff are preparing a roughly $6 billion secondary sale to investors including SoftBank, Thrive Capital and Dragoneer, allowing equity monetization without an IPO.
• The transaction is separate from OpenAI’s $40 billion primary funding round that set a $300 billion valuation, and its size, price and participant list remain fluid.
• Existing backers—SoftBank, Thrive and Dragoneer—are expected to lead the deal, with Thrive potentially taking the lead role.
• Eligibility for the sale is reportedly limited to employees with at least two years of service, a mechanism aimed at retaining talent amid intense competition.
• Analysts point to about 700 million weekly ChatGPT users, an annualized revenue run rate near $12 billion and the recent GPT-5 launch, despite rollout hiccups, as key drivers of the implied valuation.