OpenAI Eyes $500 Billion Valuation via Share Sale

OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, is in early discussions regarding a share sale that would allow employees to cash out their equity and could boost the company's valuation to around $500 billion, according to a source familiar with the matter.

This would represent a significant increase from its current valuation of $300 billion. The sale is expected to take place before a potential initial public offering (IPO) and would allow current and former employees to sell shares worth several billion dollars.

Bolstering its flagship product, ChatGPT, OpenAI has doubled its revenue in the first seven months of the year, reaching an annualized $12 billion and is on track to reach $20 billion by the end of the year. The company has approximately 700 million weekly active users for ChatGPT products, up from around 400 million in February.

The share sale talks come on the heels of a major funding round announced earlier this year, aimed at raising $40 billion, led by Japan's SoftBank group. Tech giants like Meta are also investing heavily in Artificial Intelligence.

Privately held companies like ByteDance, Databricks, and Ramp have also used private share sales to boost valuation and reward long-term employees.

Source: ΚΥΠΕ