OpenAI closed a $6.6B secondary share sale, valuing the AI firm at $500B. Employees sold shares as investors joined, reinforcing retention amid a talent race.
© A. Krivonosov
According to Bloomberg, OpenAI has closed a roughly $6.6 billion secondary share sale that values the company at $500 billion. That lifts it past Elon Musk’s SpaceX to become the world’s most valuable startup. For comparison, a previous deal that involved SoftBank pegged OpenAI’s valuation at $300 billion.
As part of the transaction, current and former employees sold shares. The buyers included Thrive Capital, SoftBank, Dragoneer Investment Group, Abu Dhabi’s MGX, and T. Rowe Price. Neither OpenAI nor the investors have offered comments so far.
In the U.S., secondary sales are a common way to reward staff, retain key specialists, and attract outside capital. Although the deal size came in below the initially discussed $10 billion, experts see it as reinforcing employees’ confidence in the company’s long-term future.
OpenAI is tightening its position amid an intense hunt for talent, as major players poach staff from OpenAI and other labs with multimillion-dollar offers. The new deal is expected to shore up workforce stability and help the company keep its core developers—an important signal as the race for AI expertise intensifies.