OpenAI in Talks for $6 Billion Stock Sale, Valuing Company at $500 Billion

OpenAI staff looking to sell $6 billion in stock to SoftBank, others, source says

Aug 15 (Reuters) - Current and former employees of OpenAI are looking to sell nearly $6 billion worth of the ChatGPT maker's shares to investors including SoftBank Group (9984.T), opens new tab and Thrive Capital, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Friday. The potential deal would value the company at $500 billion, up from $300 billion currently, underscoring both OpenAI's rapid gains in users and revenue, as well as the intense competition among artificial intelligence firms for talent. SoftBank, Thrive and Dragoneer Investment Group did not immediately respond to requests for comment. All three investment firms are existing OpenAI investors. Bloomberg News, which had earlier reported the development, said discussions are in early stages and the size of the sale could change. The secondary share sale investment adds to SoftBank's role in leading OpenAI's $40 billion primary funding round. Bolstered by its flagship product ChatGPT, OpenAI doubled its revenue in the first seven months of the year, reaching an annualized run rate of $12 billion, and is on track to reach $20 billion by the end of the year, Reuters reported earlier in August. Microsoft-backed (MSFT.O), opens new tab OpenAI has about 700 million weekly active users for its ChatGPT products, a surge from about 400 million in February. Reporting by Juby Babu in Mexico City; Editing by Shreya Biswas and Sriraj Kalluvila Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab

OpenAI in talks to sell around $6 billion in stock at roughly $500 billion valuation

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI attends the annual Allen and Co. Sun Valley Media and Technology Conference at the Sun Valley Resort in Sun Valley, Idaho, U.S., on July 8, 2025. OpenAI is preparing to sell around $6 billion in stock as part of a secondary sale that would value the company at roughly $500 billion, CNBC confirmed Friday. The shares would be sold by current and former employees to investors including SoftBank, Dragoneer Investment Group and Thrive Capital, according to a person familiar with the negotiations who asked not to be named due to the confidential nature of the discussions. The talks are still in early stages and the details could change. Bloomberg was first to report the discussions. All three firms are existing investors in OpenAI, but Thrive Capital could lead the round, as CNBC previously reported. SoftBank, Dragoneer and Thrive Capital did not immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment. OpenAI's valuation has grown exponentially since the artificial intelligence startup launched its generative AI chatbot ChatGPT in late 2022. The company announced a $40 billion funding round in March at a $300 billion, by far the largest amount ever raised by a private tech company. Earlier this month, OpenAI announced its most recent $8.3 billion in fresh capital tied to that funding round. Last week, OpenAI announced GPT-5, its latest and most advanced large-scale AI model. OpenAI said the model is smarter, faster and "a lot more useful," particularly across domains like writing, coding and health care. But it's been a rocky roll out, as some users complained about losing access to OpenAI's prior models. "We for sure underestimated how much some of the things that people like in GPT-4o matter to them, even if GPT-5 performs better in most ways," OpenAI CEO Sam Altman wrote in a post on X.