OpenAI exploring $500bn secondary share sale - reports
By Josh White
Date: Wednesday 06 Aug 2025
(Sharecast News) - OpenAI is in early-stage discussions with investors about a secondary share sale that could value the artificial intelligence company at approximately $500bn, it was reported on Wednesday.
According to Bloomberg, citing sources familiar with the matter, the proposed transaction would allow current and former employees to sell their shares.
It would mark a sharp increase from OpenAI's most recent valuation of $300bn in a primary funding round led by Japan's SoftBank earlier in the year.
The move, if finalised, would make OpenAI the world's most valuable private technology company, surpassing Elon Musk's SpaceX, which is currently valued at around $400bn.
Investors involved in the discussions reportedly included Thrive Capital, an existing OpenAI backer, though neither OpenAI nor Thrive had commented publicly on the potential deal.
The share sale was expected to raise several billion dollars, depending on investor demand, and was significantly larger than OpenAI's previous $1.5bn secondary offering completed in late 2023.
It also came amid fierce competition in the AI sector for top talent, with rival Meta offering lucrative compensation packages to lure researchers from OpenAI and other firms.
OpenAI's CEO Sam Altman downplayed the efforts, saying Meta had attracted "none of our best people" despite offering signing bonuses of up to $100m.
The rapid rise of OpenAI followed the launch of ChatGPT in late 2022, fuelling massive growth in both user numbers and revenue.
The company now reports around 700 million weekly active users and expected annual recurring revenue to reach $20bn by the end of 2025, up from $12bn currently.
However, like many AI start-ups, OpenAI remained loss-making due to the substantial costs of developing and operating large-scale AI models.
In a bid to maintain its lead in the generative AI space, OpenAI this week released two open-weight models for developers to freely use and customise - its first such release since GPT-2 in 2019 - and was preparing to launch its next flagship model, GPT-5, later in the month.
The company said it was also expanding into hardware following its $6.5bn acquisition of a start-up co-founded by former Apple designer Jony Ive, with plans to produce AI-powered devices for everyday use.
OpenAI's corporate structure was also under review.
The company, which operates under a capped-profit model with a non-profit parent, was reportedly considering a shift to a for-profit entity, potentially paving the way for an eventual initial public offering.
Discussions about the restructuring, however, remained ongoing, with Microsoft - a major investor with over $13bn committed - reportedly engaged in renegotiations to secure its rights to OpenAI's technology beyond the current agreement, which expires in 2030.
Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.
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