OpenAI may let staff cash out, eyeing $500 billion valuation

(Reuters): ChatGPT maker OpenAI is in early-stage talks over a potential stock sale that would allow employees to cash out, potentially valuing the company at around $500 billion, a source familiar with the matter said.

That would represent an eye-popping bump-up from its current valuation of $300 billion, with the sale underscoring both OpenAI’s rapid gains in users and revenue as well as the intense competition among artificial intelligence firms to secure talented workers.

The transaction, which would come before a potential initial public offering (IPO), would allow current and former employees to sell several billion dollars worth of shares, said the source, who requested anonymity because the talks are private.

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 year-end, the source added.

Microsoft-backed OpenAI has about 700 million weekly active users for its ChatGPT products, a surge from about 400 million in February.

The share sale talks come on the heels of OpenAI’s primary funding round announced earlier this year, which aims to raise $40 billion, led by Japan’s SoftBank Group.

SoftBank has until the end of the year to fund its $22.5 billion portion of the round, but the remainder has been subscribed at a valuation of $300 billion, the source said.

Tech giants are competing aggressively for AI talent with lucrative compensation packages. Meta is notably investing billions in Scale AI to poach its 28-year-old CEO, Alexandr Wang, so that he can lead its new super intelligence unit.

Unlisted firms such as ByteDance, Databricks and Ramp have also used private share sales to help update a company’s valuation and reward long-term employees.

Existing investors in OpenAI, including Thrive Capital, are in discussions to participate in the employee share sale, the source said.

Thrive Capital declined to comment. Bloomberg first reported the potential sale.

OpenAI is working on a significant corporate restructuring that would move away from its current capped-profit model and open the door for an initial public offering in the future.

Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Sarah Friar said in May, however, that an IPO would only come when the company and markets were ready.