A group of current and former OpenAI staff has reportedly decided to sell approximately $6 billion worth of shares to investors, Bloomberg reported. The deal would value the AI company and ChatGPT maker at roughly $500 billion.
Thrive Capital, SoftBank Group Corp, and Dragoneer Investment Group are the investors interested in acquiring more shares in OpenAI. All firms have previously invested in the AI company, and now they have the opportunity to increase their investment.
Bloomberg says the sale talks are still in the early stages, and the size of the deal could change. None of the parties has responded to the request for comment so far.
OpenAI has previously demonstrated a strong ability to attract investors. Back in March, the ChatGPT maker raised $40 billion in a new funding round led by SoftBank, valuing the company at $300 billion. Also, earlier this month, OpenAI announced $8.3 billion in new capital as part of its $40 billion fundraise.
With a $500 billion valuation, OpenAI can gain the title of the world’s most valuable startup and surpass Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which is valued at around $400 billion. OpenAI’s revenue projections for 2025 are $12.7 billion, a significant leap from $3.7 billion last year. Earlier this month, OpenAI also announced that ChatGPT is on track to reach 700 million weekly active users, and it hopes to reach a new milestone by end of the year after unveiling the GPT-5.
While figures are painting a rosy picture of OpenAI’s situation, the AI startup has been bleeding talent over the past few months. Meta, led by Mark Zuckerberg, has initiated a talent war with OpenAI and other AI startups, poaching their top researchers with astronomical offers.
Meta is hiring these researchers for its superintelligence lab, the same kind of AI Mark Zuckerberg says Meta wants to bring to everyone. Shengjia Zhao, a co-creator of ChatGPT, is one of those top talents recently poached by Meta.
Giving shares to employees and allowing them to sell at the highest valuation could help OpenAI to attract and retain top talents in the AI race.