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last mo.

OpenAI Eyes $500 Billion Valuation in Employee Share Sale

This preliminary equity sale would give the company’s workforce partial liquidity in a market that currently restricts broader investment.

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OpenAI CEO Sam Altman speaks at an event in Tokyo, Monday, Feb. 3, 2025. SoftBank Group Corp. said Monday that it has agreed with OpenAI to establish a joint venture to develop and sell an advanced artificial intelligence system to major Japanese firms. (Jiji Press)
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OpenAI logo during World News Media Congress at ICE Krakow Congress Centr in Krakow, Poland on May 4th, 2025. The 76th World News Media Congress is the biggest event in the news publishing industry, exploring the ongoing transformation of news media, with Mastering Media’s New Playbook a central theme. (Photo by Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto)

Overview

  • Those talks envisage a roughly $500 billion valuation, a significant jump from the $300 billion set in an April 2025 financing round.
  • If completed, OpenAI’s valuation would exceed SpaceX’s most recent estimates of $350 billion to $400 billion.
  • The proposed sale remains in early-stage discussions, underlining the company’s focus on meeting internal demand for liquidity due to its privately held equity structure.
  • Major backers such as SoftBank and Microsoft have driven past funding rounds yet broader investor participation remains restricted.
  • OpenAI continues to lead AI innovation with ChatGPT and advanced text, image and video generation tools in a highly competitive field.