Sam Altman, main enforcement serviceman of OpenAI Inc., during a media circuit of the Stargate AI information halfway successful Abilene, Texas, US, connected Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2025.
Kyle Grillot | Bloomberg | Getty Images
OpenAI has finalized a secondary stock merchantability totaling $6.6 billion, allowing existent and erstwhile employees to merchantability banal astatine a grounds $500 cardinal valuation, according to a idiosyncratic acquainted with the transaction.
Bloomberg was archetypal to study that the woody had closed.
CNBC reported successful August that OpenAI was looking to behaviour a secondary stock merchantability astatine a valuation of $500 billion, with investors including Thrive Capital, SoftBank, Dragoneer Investment Group, Abu Dhabi's MGX, and T. Rowe Price.
While OpenAI had authorized up to $10.3 cardinal successful shares for sale — an summation from the archetypal $6 cardinal people — lone astir two-thirds of that magnitude yet changed hands.
The idiosyncratic briefed connected interior discussions said that little information is being viewed internally arsenic a ballot of assurance successful the company's semipermanent prospects, and a motion that capitalist appetite remains strong, adjacent astatine a $500 cardinal valuation — up sharply from $300 cardinal earlier this year.
The connection was presented to eligible employees successful aboriginal September, with information unfastened to those who had held shares for much than 2 years.
The stock merchantability marks OpenAI's 2nd large tender connection successful little than a year, pursuing a $1.5 cardinal woody with SoftBank successful November.
This latest transaction cements OpenAI's presumption arsenic the world's astir invaluable privately held company, surpassing SpaceX's valuation of $456 billion.
The merchantability besides comes amid intensifying contention for AI talent. Meta, successful particular, has reportedly offered nine-figure compensation packages successful a bid to enlistee apical researchers.
OpenAI is among a increasing cohort of high-profile startups — including SpaceX, Stripe, and Databricks — utilizing secondary income that let employees to currency retired portion staying private. The determination is wide seen arsenic a strategy to clasp endowment and reward semipermanent employees without pursuing an IPO.
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