According to CNBC, OpenAI's valuation reached $500 billion this morning and successfully sold $10.3 billion in secondary shares. This transaction attracted participation from multiple well-known investment institutions, marking OpenAI's strong performance in the capital market.
According to sources, OpenAI originally planned to allow qualified current and former employees to sell about $6 billion in shares, but the final amount increased to $10.3 billion, an increase of more than $4 billion. This shows that market confidence and demand for OpenAI continue to rise. Notably, in the latest funding round in early 2025, OpenAI's valuation was $30 billion. Within a few months, its valuation has seen a significant increase in the secondary trading market.
At the same time, another large model platform, Anthropic, also secured $13 billion in funding, with its valuation rising from $61.5 billion at the beginning of the year to $183 billion. This further proves the strong interest and demand in the artificial intelligence field from the capital market.
About the timing of this stock sale, OpenAI proposed the relevant plan to employees on Wednesday. Employees who have held shares for more than two years can decide whether to participate in the sale by the end of September, and the entire transaction is expected to be completed by October 2025. The list of participating investors is impressive, including SoftBank, Dragoneer Investment Group, Thrive Capital, MGX from Abu Dhabi, and T. Rowe Price, among other well-known institutions, providing support for the smooth progress of the transaction.
From an industry perspective, OpenAI is not the only high-valued tech startup taking such measures. Companies such as SpaceX, Stripe, and Databricks have also used secondary share sales to help employees lock in part of their investment gains and ease the pressure of going public. OpenAI's recent move continues this industry trend and demonstrates its active presence in the capital market.
Looking back at OpenAI's equity transaction history, the company conducted a tender offer with SoftBank in November 2024, allowing employees to sell shares worth approximately $1.5 billion. The scale of this $10.3 billion secondary share sale is a qualitative leap compared to previous transactions, demonstrating the company's great potential amid rapid development.
Key points:
💰 OpenAI's valuation reached $50 billion, and the scale of the secondary share sale increased to $10.3 billion.
📈 Demand from the capital market for AI continues to rise, and valuations of other platforms have also increased significantly.
🤝 Multiple well-known investment institutions participated in the transaction, supporting OpenAI's market performance.
