OpenAI is targeting a stock sale in the billions of dollars, according to Bloomberg.
OpenAI (OPENAI) is in early talks for a potential secondary stock sale for current and former employees, with a valuation of $500 billion, according to a Bloomberg report, which cited people briefed on the investment discussions.
If the program proceeds, it would mark a significant increase in the AI company’s valuation. OpenAI had pegged its worth at around $300 billion when it announced a $40 billion funding round led by SoftBank in April.
According to a Bloomberg report late Tuesday, OpenAI is targeting a stock sale in the billions of dollars, with one of OpenAI’s investors, Thrive Capital, approaching the company to purchase some of the employee shares.
The latest development follows news from last week that OpenAI received $8.3 billion from a syndicate of investors for a second tranche of the $40 billion financing, which was oversubscribed by approximately five times.
It also comes against the backdrop of an intense battle for AI talent, with Meta (META) actively poaching from rivals including OpenAI, Apple, and Google.
The remarkable surge in the company’s valuation — OpenAI was valued at approximately $90 billion in 2023 — highlights the strong investor enthusiasm and growing appetite for AI firms, most of all for OpenAI, which is seen as the frontrunner driving innovation in the space.
OpenAI has overseen a spate of recent technology launches, including a new open-source platform, and is preparing the release of its latest GPT-5 model. On Tuesday, Amazon announced that some of OpenAI’s models will be available on AWS for the first time.
On Stocktwits, the retail sentiment for OPENAI was ‘bullish’ as of the last reading.
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