OpenAI Reaches Record $500 Billion Valuation in Employee Share Sale

OpenAI has generated approximately $4.3 billion in revenue during the first half of 2025.

France:

Financial media reported Thursday that ChatGPT creator OpenAI's valuation has rocketed to an unprecedented $500 billion following a deal allowing employees to sell a limited number of shares.

According to Bloomberg, if the reported $6.6 billion share sale to investors is confirmed, OpenAI would become the world's most valuable startup, surpassing Elon Musk's SpaceX, which is valued at approximately $400 billion.

Bloomberg and the Financial Times reported that Japanese investment powerhouse SoftBank was among a group of investors purchasing the shares, citing sources familiar with the transaction.

When contacted by AFP, OpenAI's French representatives declined to comment on these reports, while the US press office did not provide an immediate response. SoftBank also declined to comment on the reports.

SoftBank, known for making bold technology investments, had previously committed to investing $40 billion in OpenAI by the end of 2025, contingent upon the startup meeting specific conditions.

The March agreement valued the US company at $300 billion, less than three years after its flagship product ChatGPT impressed the public with its ability to generate convincing text responses.

Additional investors mentioned by Bloomberg and the Financial Times on Thursday included venture capital firms Thrive Capital and Dragoneer, along with Abu Dhabi's AI investment company MGX.

Specialist publication The Information reported this week that OpenAI generated approximately $4.3 billion in revenue during the first half of 2025.

However, like other generative AI developers, OpenAI has planned expenditures reaching hundreds of billions over the coming years to build the computing infrastructure necessary for developing and operating its services.

Some industry observers expressed concerns last week about OpenAI receiving an investment pledge of up to $100 billion from chip giant Nvidia.

Nvidia, formerly known primarily for PC gaming hardware, has become the world's most valuable company, worth approximately $4.5 trillion, riding the wave of the generative AI boom, with much of this software running on its graphics processing units (GPUs).

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has been reinvesting some of the company's profits into firms that purchase its products, including OpenAI and cloud computing providers such as Coreweave.

While some have identified these deals as potential warning signs of a bubble in the generative AI sector, investors continue to invest heavily—with OpenAI competitor Anthropic raising $13 billion at a $183 billion valuation last month.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)