OpenAI Employees Eye $6 Billion Stock Sale, Valuation Hits $500 Billion - Report

Current and former OpenAI employees are preparing to sell approximately $6 billion worth of shares to a group of heavyweight investors including SoftBank Group Corp., Thrive Capital, and Dragoneer Investment Group, according to people familiar with the matter as mentione din the report by Bloomberg.

The transaction, which is still in its early stages, would value the maker of ChatGPT at $500 billion, cementing OpenAI’s position as the world’s most valuable startup, overtaking Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

Bloomberg first reported the talks.

Secondary Sale on Top of Ongoing $40 Billion Funding Round
Sources said the secondary share sale is separate from SoftBank’s ongoing commitment to lead OpenAI’s $40 billion primary funding round, which currently values the company at $300 billion. As part of that round, OpenAI has already secured $8.3 billion from a syndicate of backers.

Representatives for Dragoneer and Thrive did not respond to requests for comment, while spokespeople for OpenAI and SoftBank declined to comment.

Employee Liquidity Amid AI Talent War
The secondary deal would allow OpenAI’s staff, both current and formerto,  cash out some of their holdings, an important tool for talent retention in the fiercely competitive AI sector.
Big tech firms such as Meta Platforms Inc. have been aggressively recruiting AI experts, offering massive salaries. Several OpenAI researchers, including Shengjia Zhao, a co-creator of ChatGPT, have already defected to Meta this year.

Allowing employees to sell shares offers a middle ground between staying private and pursuing an IPO. However, according to one source, OpenAI’s existing investors will not be allowed to participate in this round, with eligibility limited to current and former staff who have spent at least two years at the company.

SoftBank Deepens Its Bet on OpenAI
SoftBank, led by Masayoshi Son, has been steadily increasing its exposure to OpenAI. In addition to the ongoing $40 billion round and this prospective $6 billion share purchase, SoftBank recently closed a $1 billion deal to buy employee shares at a $300 billion valuation, said a person familiar with the matter.

That transaction began before discussions of the $500 billion valuation were underway, the source added.

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Revenue Growth and GPT-5 Boost Valuation
The latest deal talks come shortly after OpenAI’s release of its highly anticipated GPT-5 model, which has further solidified its dominance in the AI sector.
OpenAI is also expecting a surge in revenue to $12.7 billion in 2025, up sharply from $3.7 billion in 2024, according to Bloomberg. This growth trajectory is a major factor behind its ballooning valuation.

Altman’s Bold Vision for AI Infrastructure
“You should expect a bunch of economists to wring their hands and say, ‘This is so crazy, it’s so reckless,’ and whatever,” Altman said. “And we’ll just be like, ‘You know what? Let us do our thing.’”

Speaking to reporters earlier this week, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman outlined his ambitious vision for the company’s future, hinting at trillion-dollar infrastructure investments to power AI services.

The Bigger Picture
If finalised, the $500 billion secondary share sale would not only mark one of the largest liquidity events for employees in tech history but also further underscore OpenAI’s central role in the AI arms race. With SoftBank doubling down and rivals like Meta aggressively hiring, the stakes in the global AI talent war have never been higher.

(With Inputs From Bloomberg)