OpenAI employees plan to sell around US$6 billion (A$9.2 billion) in shares to an investor group that includes Thrive Capital, SoftBank Group Corp and Dragoneer Investment Group, according to a source close to the matter.
The deal would lead to the company being valued at US$500 billion, up from the current $300 billion, and all three firms are already existing OpenAI backers.
This secondary share investment would also be on top of SoftBank’s commitment to lead OpenAI’s $40 billion funding round. This round is still ongoing with OpenAI securing $8.3 billion from a syndicate of investors.
The share sale would enable OpenAI employees to become cash-rich amid a high-stakes talent war in the AI industry, with companies like Meta Platforms offering substantial salaries to poach talent from OpenAI and other startups.
If OpenAI achieves the $500 billion valuation from the secondary shares sale, it would become the world’s most valuable startup, surpassing Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
This comes after OpenAI doubled its revenue in the first seven months of the year, reaching an annualised rate of $12 billion and is on track to reach $20 billion by the end of the year.
This is thanks to its flagship product, ChatGPT, surging from 400 million weekly active users to 700 million.
